Sonnet XXXIX. Because thou hast the power and own’st the graceTo look through and behind this mask of me(Against which years have beat thus blanchinglyWith their rains), and behold my soul’s true face,The dim and weary witness of life’s race,–Because thou hast the faith and love to see,Through that same soul’s distracting lethargy,The patient angel […]

Sonnet XXXVIII. First time he kissed me, he but only kissedThe fingers of this hand wherewith I write;And ever since, it grew more clean and white,Slow to world-greetings, quick with its “Oh, list,”When the angels speak. A ring of amethystI could not wear here, plainer to my sight,Than that first kiss. The second passed in […]

Sonnet XXXVII. Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make,Of all that strong divineness which I knowFor thine and thee, an image only soFormed of the sand, and fit to shift and break.It is that distant years which did not takeThy sovranty, recoiling with a blow,Have forced my swimming brain to undergoTheir doubt and dread, […]

Sonnet XXXVI. When we met first and loved, I did not buildUpon the event with marble. Could it meanTo last, a love set pendulous betweenSorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,Distrusting every light that seemed to gildThe onward path, and feared to overleanA finger even. And, though I have grown sereneAnd strong since then, I […]

Sonnet XXXV. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchangeAnd be all to me? Shall I never missHome-talk and blessing and the common kissThat comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,When I look up, to drop on a new rangeOf walls and floors, another home than this?Nay, wilt thou fill that place […]

Sonnet XXXIV. With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer theeAs those, when thou shalt call me by my name–Lo, the vain promise! is the same, the same,Perplexed and ruffled by life’s strategy?When called before, I told how hastilyI dropped my flowers or brake off from a game,To run and answer with the smile that […]

Sonnet XXXIII. Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hearThe name I used to run at, when a child,From innocent play, and leave the cowslips piled,To glance up in some face that proved me dearWith the look of its eyes. I miss the clearFond voices which, being drawn and reconciledInto the music of Heaven’s […]

Sonnet XXXII. The first time that the sun rose on thine oathTo love me, I looked forward to the moonTo slacken all those bonds which seemed too soonAnd quickly tied to make a lasting troth.Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;And, looking on myself, I seemed not oneFor such man’s love!–more like an out-of-tuneWorn viol, […]

A POEM IN TWO PARTS ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION. This poem contains the impressions of the writer upon events in Tuscany of which she was a witness. “From a window,” the critic may demur. She bows to the objection in the very title of her work. No continuous narrative nor exposition of political philosophy […]

Sonnet XLIV. Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowersPlucked in the garden, all the summer throughAnd winter, and it seemed as if they grewIn this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.So, in the like name of that love of ours,Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,And which on warm and cold days […]

Sonnet XLIII. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of everyday’sMost quiet need, by sun and candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive […]

Sonnet XLII. ” My future will not copy fair my past “–I wrote that once; and thinking at my sideMy ministering life-angel justifiedThe word by his appealing look upcastTo the white throne of God, I turned at last,And there, instead, saw thee, not unalliedTo angels in thy soul! Then I, long triedBy natural ills, received […]

Sonnet XLI. I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to allWho paused a little near the prison-wallTo hear my music in its louder partsEre they went onward, each one to the mart’sOr temple’s occupation, beyond call.But thou, who, in my voice’s sink and fallWhen the […]

Sonnet XL. Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!I will not gainsay love, called love forsooth.I have heard love talked in my early youth,And since, not so long back but that the flowersThen gathered, smell still. Mussulmans and GiaoursThrow kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruthFor any weeping. Polypheme’s white toothSlips […]

I. Florence, Bologna, Parma, Modena:When you named them a year ago,So many graves reserved by God, in aDay of Judgment, you seemed to know,To open and let out the resurrection. II. And meantime (you made your reflectionIf you were English), was nought to be doneBut sorting sables, in predilectionFor all those martyrs dead and gone,Till […]

hos basilei, hos theps, hos nekrps.—GREGORY NAZIANZEN. I. The Pope on Christmas DaySits in Saint Peter’s chair;But the peoples murmur and say“Our souls are sick and forlorn,And who will show us whereIs the stable where Christ was born?” II. The star is lost in the dark;The manger is lost in the straw;The Christ cries faintly […]

“Una voce augusta.”– Monitore Toscano. I. You’ll take back your Grand-duke?I made the treaty upon it.Just venture a quiet rebuke;Dall’ Ongaro write him a sonnet;Ricasoli gently explainSome need of the constitution:He’ll swear to it over again,Providing an “easy solution.”You’ll call back the Grand-duke. II. You’ll take back your Grand-duke?I promised the Emperor FrancisTo argue the […]

I. Her hair was tawny with gold, her eyes with purple were dark,Her cheeks’ pale opal burnt with a red and restless spark. II. Never was lady of Milan nobler in name and in race;Never was lady of Italy fairer to see in the face. III. Never was lady on earth more true as woman […]

TOLD IN TUSCANY. I. My little son, my Florentine,Sit down beside my knee,And I will tell you why the signOf joy which flushed our ItalyHas faded since but yesternight;And why your Florence of delightIs mourning as you see. II. A great man (who was crowned one day)Imagined a great Deed:He shaped it out of cloud […]

I. Emperor, Emperor!From the centre to the shore,From the Seine back to the Rhine,Stood eight millions up and sworeBy their manhood’s right divineSo to elect and legislate,This man should renew the lineBroken in a strain of fateAnd leagued kings at Waterloo,When the people’s hands let go.EmperorEvermore. II. With a universal shoutThey took the old regalia […]