Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Portuguese XXXVII lyrics
[Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Portuguese XXXVII lyrics]
Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make
Of all that strong divineness which I know
For thine and thee, an image only so
Formed of the sand
And fit to shift and break
It is that distant years which did not take
Thy sovranty, recoiling with a blow
Have forced my swimming brain to undergo
Their doubt and dread, and blindly to forsake
The purity of likeness and distort
Thy worthiest love to
A worthless counterfeit:
As if a shipwrecked Pagan, safe in port
His guardian sea-god to commemorate
Should set a sculptured porpoise
Gills a-snort
And vibrant tail, within the temple-gate
Of all that strong divineness which I know
For thine and thee, an image only so
Formed of the sand
And fit to shift and break
It is that distant years which did not take
Thy sovranty, recoiling with a blow
Have forced my swimming brain to undergo
Their doubt and dread, and blindly to forsake
The purity of likeness and distort
Thy worthiest love to
A worthless counterfeit:
As if a shipwrecked Pagan, safe in port
His guardian sea-god to commemorate
Should set a sculptured porpoise
Gills a-snort
And vibrant tail, within the temple-gate