Browning, Elizabeth Barrett; Leeson, Adelaide H. [Ill.]: Sonnets from the Portuguese (London, [circa 1916])

XIII

ND wilt thou have me fashion into
speech

The love I hear thee, finding

words enough,
And hold the torch out, while the

winds are rough,
Between our faces, to cast light
on each?—
I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach
My hand to hold my spirit so far off
From myself — me — that I should bring thee proof
In words, of love hid in me out of reach.
Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.