Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXIV
1Let the world’s sharpness like a clasping knife
2Shut in upon itself and do no harm
3In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm,
4And let us hear no sound of human strife
5After the click of the shutting. Life to life—
6I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm,
7And feel as safe as guarded by a charm
8Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife
9Are weak to injure. Very whitely still
10The lilies of our lives may reassure
11Their blossoms from their roots, accessible
12Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer,
13Growing straight, out of man’s reach, on the hill.
14God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.
Notes
12] terminal semi-colon changed to a comma
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
