Sonnets from the Portuguese: XIII
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XIII
Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
1And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
2The love I bear thee, finding words enough,
3And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,
4Between our faces, to cast light on each?—
5I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach
6My hand to hold my spirits so far off
7From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof
8In words, of love hid in me out of reach.
9Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
10Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
11Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
12And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
13By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
14Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form