Poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

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I DO not love thee! - no! I do not love thee!
And yet when thou art absent I am sad;
   And envy even the bright blue sky above thee,
Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.

   I do not love thee! - yet, I know not why,
Whate'er thou dost seems still well done, to me:
   And often in my solitude I sigh
That those I do love are not more like thee!

   I do not love thee! - yet, when thou art gone,
I hate the sound (though those who speak be dear)
   Which breaks the lingering echo of the tone
Thy voice of music leaves upon my ear.

   I do not love thee! - yet thy speaking eyes,
With their deep, bright, and most expressive blue,
   Between me and the midnight heaven arise,
Oftener than any eyes I ever knew.

   I know I do not love thee! yet, alas!
Others will scarcely trust my candid heart;
   And oft I catch them smiling as they pass,
Because they see me gazing where thou art. 

1. The Chapel Royal St. James’s, on the 10th February, 1840
2. Sonnet 5. BECAUSE I know that there is that in me
3. Sonnet 13. LITTLE they think, the giddy and the vain
4. The Fever-Dream
5. Sonnet 9. WHEN our young Queen put on her rightful crown

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