My Letters! all dead paper... (Sonnet 28)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 
My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
And yet they seem alive and quivering
Against my tremulous hands which loose the string
And let them drop down on my knee tonight.
This said—he wished to have me in his sight
Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring
To come and touch my hand. . . a simple thing,
Yes I wept for it—this . . . the paper's light. . .
Said, Dear, I love thee; and I sank and quailed
As if God's future thundered on my past.
This said, I am thine—and so its ink has paled
With lying at my heart that beat too fast.
And this . . . 0 Love, thy words have ill availed
If, what this said, I dared repeat at last!
 

Poems by This Author

A Musical Instrument by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
What was he doing, the great god Pan
Beloved, my Beloved... (Sonnet 20) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
If thou must love me... (Sonnet 14) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Love by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
We cannot live, except thus mutually
Say over again... (Sonnet 21) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Say over again, and yet once over again
The Face of All the World (Sonnet 7) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The face of all the world is changed, I think
The Sleep by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Of all the thoughts of God that are
The Soul's Expression by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
With stammering lips and insufficient sound
To George Sand: A Desire by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man
To George Sand: A Recognition by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
True genius, but true woman! dost deny
When our two souls... (Sonnet 22) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
When our two souls stand up erect and strong


Further Reading

Related Poems
Confetti Allegiance: Love Letter to Jim Brodey
by CAConrad
If thou must love me... (Sonnet 14)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning