Hello,
Have been reading Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barret Browning -my idol poet- lately, and have been loving the phrasing of her sonnets. She has a beautiful way with expression, and I have fell in love with a certian few of her sonnets... "How do I Love thee?" will always rank first in my heart among her poems, but these two are especially lovely, and I had to share them with you all...
Sonnet XXX
"I see thine image through my tears to-night
And yet today I saw thee smiling. How
Refer the cause?-Beloved, is it thou
Or I, who makes me sad? The acolyte
Amid the chanted joy and thankful rite
May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,
On the altar stair. I hear thy voice and vow,
Perplexed, uncertian, since thou art out of sight,
As he, in his swooning ears, the choir's Amen.
Beloved,dost thou love? or did I see all
The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when
Too vehement light dilated my ideal,
For my soul's eyes? Will that light come again,
As now these tears come- falling hot and real?"
Sonnet XXXI
"Thou comest! all is said without a word.
I sit beneath thy looks, as children do
In the noon-sun, with souls that tremble through
Their happy eyelids from an unaverred
Yet prodigal inward joy. Behold, I erred
In that last doubt! and yet I cannot rue
The sin most, but the occasion-that we two
Should for a moment stand unministered
By a mutual presence. Ah, keep near and close,
Thou dovelike help! and, when my fears should rise,
With thy broad heart serenly interpose:
Brood down with thy divine sufficiencies
These thoughts which tremble when bereft of those,
Like callow birds left desert to the skies."
Have a lovely day.
Have been reading Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barret Browning -my idol poet- lately, and have been loving the phrasing of her sonnets. She has a beautiful way with expression, and I have fell in love with a certian few of her sonnets... "How do I Love thee?" will always rank first in my heart among her poems, but these two are especially lovely, and I had to share them with you all...
Sonnet XXX
"I see thine image through my tears to-night
And yet today I saw thee smiling. How
Refer the cause?-Beloved, is it thou
Or I, who makes me sad? The acolyte
Amid the chanted joy and thankful rite
May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,
On the altar stair. I hear thy voice and vow,
Perplexed, uncertian, since thou art out of sight,
As he, in his swooning ears, the choir's Amen.
Beloved,dost thou love? or did I see all
The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when
Too vehement light dilated my ideal,
For my soul's eyes? Will that light come again,
As now these tears come- falling hot and real?"
Sonnet XXXI
"Thou comest! all is said without a word.
I sit beneath thy looks, as children do
In the noon-sun, with souls that tremble through
Their happy eyelids from an unaverred
Yet prodigal inward joy. Behold, I erred
In that last doubt! and yet I cannot rue
The sin most, but the occasion-that we two
Should for a moment stand unministered
By a mutual presence. Ah, keep near and close,
Thou dovelike help! and, when my fears should rise,
With thy broad heart serenly interpose:
Brood down with thy divine sufficiencies
These thoughts which tremble when bereft of those,
Like callow birds left desert to the skies."
Have a lovely day.
Tawney Rae
