Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XI
1And therefore if to love can be desert,
2I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
3As these you see, and trembling knees that fail
4To bear the burden of a heavy heart,—
5This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
6To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail
7To pipe now ’gainst the valley nightingale
8A melancholy music,—why advert
9To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain
10I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
11And yet, because I love thee, I obtain
12From that same love this vindicating grace
13To live on still in love, and yet in vain,—
14To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.
Notes
6] Aornus: a large rock in India, conquered by Alexander the Great in his last siege (sometimes Aornos)
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
