Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnets from the Portuguese" was 
originally published in 1850 in a two volume  publication entitled
_Poems_.  This work was prepared for electronic distribution by the 
inforM staff.  Questions or comments should be directed to 
inform-editor@umail.umd.edu.


Sonnets from the Portuguese

          V

I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,
As once Electra her sepulchral urn,
And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn
The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see
What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,
And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn
Through the ashen grayness. If thy foot in scorn
Could tread them out to darkness utterly,
It might be well perhaps. But if instead
Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow
The gray dust up, . . . those laurels on thine head,
O my Beloved, will not shield thee so,
That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred
The hair beneath. Stand farther off then ! go.