Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XX
1Belovèd, my Belovèd, when I think
2That thou wast in the world a year ago,
3What time I sat alone here in the snow
4And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink
5No moment at thy voice, but, link by link,
6Went counting all my chains as if that so
7They never could fall off at any blow
8Struck by thy possible hand,—why, thus I drink
9Of life’s great cup of wonder! Wonderful,
10Never to feel thee thrill the day or night
11With personal act or speech,—nor ever cull
12Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white
13Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull,
14Who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight.
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
