



Transcribed from the 1906 Caradoc Press edition by David Price, email
ccx074@coventry.ac.uk.





SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE


INDEX OF FIRST LINES


I       I thought once how Theocritus had sung
II      But only three in all God's universe
III     Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
IV      Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor
V       I lift my heavy heart up solemnly
VI      Go from me.  Yet I feel that I shall stand
VII     The face of all the world is changed, I think
VIII    What can I give thee back, O liberal
IX      Can it be right to give what I can give?
X       Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
XI      And therefore if to love can be desert
XII     Indeed this very love which is my boast
XIII    And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
XIV     If thou must love me, let it be for nought
XV      Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
XVI     And yet, because thou overcomest so
XVII    My poet thou canst touch on all the notes
XVIII   I never gave a lock of hair away
XIX     The soul's Rialto hath its merchandize
XX      Beloved, my beloved, when I think
XXI     Say over again, and yet once over again
XXII    When our two souls stand up erect and strong
XXIII   Is it indeed so?  If I lay here dead
XXIV    Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife
XXV     A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne
XXVI    I lived with visions for my company
XXVII   My own Beloved, who hast lifted me
XXVIII  My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
XXIX    I think of thee!--my thoughts do twine and bud
XXX     I see thine image through my tears to-night
XXXI    Thou comest! all is said without a word
XXXII   The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
XXXIII  Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
XXXIV   With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee
XXXV    If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
XXXVI   When we met first and loved, I did not build
XXXVII  Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make
XXXVIII First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
XXXIX   Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace
XL      Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
XLI     I thank all who have loved me in their hearts
XLII    My future will not copy fair my past
XLIII   How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways
XLIV    Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers




I


I thought once how Theocritus had sung
Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,
Who each one in a gracious hand appears
To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:
And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,
I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,
Those of my own life, who by turns had flung
A shadow across me.  Straightway I was 'ware,
So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move
Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;
And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,--
"Guess now who holds thee!"--"Death," I said, But, there,
The silver answer rang, "Not Death, but Love."




II


But only three in all God's universe
Have heard this word thou hast said,--Himself, beside
Thee speaking, and me listening! and replied
One of us... that was God,... and laid the curse
So darkly on my eyelids, as to amerce
My sight from seeing thee,--that if I had died,
The death-weights, placed there, would have signified
Less absolute exclusion.  "Nay" is worse
From God than from all others, O my friend!
Men could not part us with their worldly jars,
Nor the seas change us, nor the tempests bend;
Our hands would touch for all the mountain-bars:
And, heaven being rolled between us at the end,
We should but vow the faster for the stars.




III


Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
Unlike our uses and our destinies.
Our ministering two angels look surprise
On one another, as they strike athwart
Their wings in passing.  Thou, bethink thee, art
A guest for queens to social pageantries,
With gages from a hundred brighter eyes
Than tears even can make mine, to play