Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

(From Sonnets from the Portuguese)

INDEED this very love which is my boast,

And which, when rising up from breast to brow,

Doth crown me with a ruby large enow

To draw men’s eyes, and prove the inner cost,—

This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,

I should not love withal, unless that thou

Hadst set me an example, shown me how,

When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,

And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak

Of love even, as a good thing of my own.

Thy soul hath snatched up mine, all faint and weak,

And placed it by thee on a golden throne;

And that I love (O soul, I must be meek!),

Is by thee only, whom I love alone.