Sonnets from the Portuguese: XLII
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XLII
Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
2I wrote that once; and thinking at my side
3My ministering life-angel justified
4The word by his appealing look upcast
5To the white throne of God, I turned at last,
6And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied
7To angels in thy soul! Then I, long tried
8By natural ills, received the comfort fast,
9While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim’s staff
10Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.
11I seek no copy now of life’s first half:
12Leave here the pages with long musing curled,
13And write me new my future’s epigraph,
14New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!
Notes
1] My future will not copy fair my past: the opening line from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet, “Past and Future” (1844) Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form