Sonnets from the Portuguese: XVIII
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XVIII
Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
2To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
3Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully
4I ring out to the full brown length and say
5“Take it.” My day of youth went yesterday;
6My hair no longer bounds to my foot’s glee,
7Nor plant I it from rose- or myrtle-tree,
8As girls do, any more: it only may
9Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,
10Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside
12Would take this first, but Love is justified,—
13Take it thou,—finding pure, from all those years,
14The kiss my mother left here when she died.
Notes
1] a lock of hair: this was treasured as a very personal gift from one person to another Back to Line
11] funeral-shears: scissors used to cut a lock of hair from a dead person’s head, by which others may treasure the dead person’s memory Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form