Skip to main content
Humanities LibreTexts

2.2.7.1: from Sonnets from the Portuguese

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    83014

    • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    from Sonnets from the Portuguese

    from Sonnets from the Portuguese License: Public Domain Elizabeth Barrett Browning
    III

    Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!

    Unlike our uses and our destinies.

    Our ministering two angels look surprise

    On one another, as they strike athwart

    Their wings in passing. Thou, bethink thee, art

    A guest for queens to social pageantries,

    With gages from a hundred brighter eyes

    Than tears even can make mine, to play thy part

    Of chief musician. What hast thou to do

    With looking from the lattice-lights at me,

    A poor, tired, wandering singer, singing through

    The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree?

    The chrism is on thine head,—on mine, the dew,—

    And Death must dig the level where these agree.

    XIV

    If thou must love me, let it be for nought

    Except for love's sake only. Do not say

    "I love her for her smile—her look—her way

    Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought

    That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

    A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"—

    For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may

    Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

    May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

    Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—

    A creature might forget to weep, who bore

    Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

    But love me for love's sake, that evermore

    Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

    XLIII

    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

    I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

    My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

    For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

    I love thee to the level of everyday's

    Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

    I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

    I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

    I love thee with the passion put to use

    In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

    I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

    With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,

    Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

    I shall but love thee better after death.

    This page titled 2.2.7.1: from Sonnets from the Portuguese is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Georgia, & Laura Ng (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.