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1806–1861

XV

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear Too calm and sad a face in front of thine; For we two look two ways, and cannot shine With the same sunlight on our brow and hair.

On me thou lookest with no doubting care, As on a bee shut in a crystalline; Since sorrow hath shut me safe in love's divine, And to spread wing and fly in the outer air

Were most impossible failure, if I strove To fail so. But I look on thee — on thee — Beholding, besides love, the end of love, Hearing oblivion beyond memory;

As one who sits and gazes from above, Over the rivers to the bitter sea.

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XV · Elizabeth Barrett Browning · Poetry Cove