50 INSUFFICIENCY. INSUFFICIENCY. THERE is no one beside thee and no one above thee, And my words that would praise thee are impotent things. For none can express thee though all should approve thee. I love thee so, Dear, that I only can love thee. Say what can I do for thee? weary thee, grieve thee? Elizabeth Barrett Browning. INCLUSIONS. 51 INCLUSIONS. OH! wilt thou have my hand, Dear, to lie along in thine? pine. Now drop the poor pale hand, Dear, . . unfit to plight with thine. Oh! wilt thou have my cheek, Dear, drawn closer to thine own? My cheek is white, my cheek is worn, by many a tear run down. Now leave a little space, Dear,.. lest it should wet thine own. Oh! must thou have my soul, Dear, commingled with thy soul? Red grows the cheek, and warm the hand,.. the part is in the whole! Nor hands nor cheeks keep separate, when soul is joined to soul. E. B. Browning. HOPELESS AND ALONE. 53 HOPELESS AND ALONE. THE stately ships are passing free, Where scant light strikes along the flood; O who will bring my love to me? White gulls fly screaming to the sea; The bitter east wind sweeps the sky; Faint snow-streaks on the hill-side lie O who will bring my love to me? The hawthorn bough is bare and dree; Brown brake shrills shivering in the storm O who will bring my love to me? The bright blue sky is cold to see; The frosty ground lies hard and bare: O who will bring my love to me? John Addington Symonds. པ་ 54 PROTESTATION. PROTESTATION. How many times do I love thee, dear? Of a new-fall'n year, Whose white and sable hours appear How many times do I love again? Tell me how many beads there are Of evening rain, Unravelled from the tumbling main And threading the eye of a yellow star: So many times do I love again. Thomas Lovell Beddoes. |