Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXXII

Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXXII

Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
1The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
2To love me, I looked forward to the moon
3To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon
4And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.
5Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;
6And, looking on myself, I seemed not one
7For such man’s love!—more like an out-of-tune
9To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,
10Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.
11I did not wrong myself so, but I placed
12A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float
13’Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,—
14And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.

Notes

8] viol: a bowed, stringed musical instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, similar to the modern violin family Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form