Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: VIII
1What can I give thee back, O liberal
2And princely giver, who hast brought the gold
3And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold,
4And laid them on the outside of the wall
5For such as I to take or leave withal,
6In unexpected largesse? am I cold,
7Ungrateful, that for these most manifold
8High gifts, I render nothing back at all?
9Not so; not cold,—but very poor instead.
10Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run
11The colours from my life, and left so dead
12And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done
13To give the same as pillow to thy head.
14Go farther! let it serve to trample on.
Notes
2-3] gold and purple: colours traditionally associated with royalty and luxury
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
First publication date:
1850
RPO poem editor: Marc R. Plamondon
RP edition: 2007
Recent editing: 2:2007/11/24
Composition date:
1846
Form: sonnet
Other poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
