So XI
And therefore if to love be desert,
I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
As these you see, and trembling khat fail
To bear the burden of a heavy heart,--
This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
To climb Aornus, and scarce avail
To pipe now gainst the valley nightingale
A melanusic,--why advert
To these things ? O Beloved, it is plain
I am not of thy worth nor for thy place !
A, because I love thee, I obtain
From that same love this vindig grace,
To live on still in love, a in vain,--
To bless thee, yet renouhee to thy face.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
So XI: And Therefore If to Love
And therefore if to love be desert,
I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
As these you see, and trembling khat fail
To bear the burden of a heavy heart,--
This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
To climb Aornus, and scarce avail
To pipe now gainst the valley nightingale
A melanusic,--why advert
To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain
I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
A, because I love thee, I obtain
From that same love this vindig grace,
To live on still in love, a in vain,--
To bless thee, yet renouhee to thy face.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
So XII
Ihis very love which is my boast,
And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
Doth e with a ruby large enow
To draw mens eyes and prove the inner cost,--
This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
I should not love withal, uhat thou
Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
When first thine ear eyes with mine were crossed,
And love called love. And thus, I ot speak
Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
And placed it by thee on a golden throne,--
And that I love (O soul, we must be meek !)
Is by thee only, whom I love alone.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
So XII: Ihis Very Love
Ihis very love which is my boast,
And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
Doth e with ruby large enow
To draw mens eyes and prove the inner cost,--
This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
I should not love withal, uhat thou
Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
When first thine ear eyes with mine were crossed,
And love called love. And thus, I ot speak
Of love even, as good thing of my own:
Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
And placed it by thee on a golden throne,--
And that I love (O soul, we must be meek--)
Is by thee only, whom I love alone.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
So XIII
And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
The love I bear thee, finding words enough,
And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,
Between our faces, to cast light on each ?--
I drop it at thy feet. I ot teach
My hand to hold my spirit so far off
From myself--me--that I should bring thee proof
In words, of love hid i of reach.
Nay, let the sileny womanhood
end my woman-love to thy belief,--
Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
Ahe garment of my life, in brief,
By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
Lest oouch of this heart vey its grief
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
So