Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
XV. And wilt thou have me fashion into speechMrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (18061861)
(From Sonnets from the Portuguese)
A
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 cannot teach
My hand to hold thy spirit so far off
From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof,
In words, of love hid in me out of reach.
Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.