Poem by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese. 5. I lift my heavy heart up solemnly

I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,
As once Electra her sepulchral urn,
And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn
The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see
What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,
And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn
Through the ashen grayness. If thy foot in scorn
Could tread them out to darkness utterly,
It might be well perhaps. But if instead
Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow
The gray dust up,... those laurels on thine head,
O my Beloved, will not shield thee so,
That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred
The hair beneath. Stand farther off then! go. 

1. Minstrelsy
2. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 16. And yet, because thou overcomest so
3. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 35. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
4. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 40. Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
5. Adequacy

Print

2697 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version