And Therefore If To Love Can Be Desert

________________________________________________
Title:     And Therefore If To Love Can Be Desert
Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning [More Titles by Browning]

Sonnet XI.

And therefore if to love can be desert,
I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
As these you see, and trembling knees that fail
To bear the burden of a heavy heart,--
This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail
To pipe now 'gainst the valley nightingale
A melancholy music,--why advert
To these things? O Beloved, it is plain
I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
And yet, because I love thee, I obtain
From that same love this vindicating grace,
To live on still in love, and yet in vain,--
To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.

[The end]
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem: And Therefore If To Love Can Be Desert

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN