Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXXVI
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXXVI
Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
1When we met first and loved, I did not build
2Upon the event with marble. Could it mean
3To last, a love set pendulous between
4Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,
5Distrusting every light that seemed to gild
6The onward path, and feared to overlean
7A finger even. And, though I have grown serene
8And strong since then, I think that God has willed
9A still renewable fear . . . O love, O troth . . .
10Lest these enclaspèd hands should never hold,
11This mutual kiss drop down between us both
12As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.
13And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,
14Must lose one joy, by his life’s star foretold.
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form