Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Proof and Disproof lyrics
[Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Proof and Disproof lyrics]
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
Who shall answer yes or no?
What is provèd or disprovèd
When my soul inquireth so
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
I have seen thy heart to day
Never open to the crowd
While to love me aye and aye
Was the vow as it was vowed
By thine eyes of steadfast grey
Now I sit alone, alone
And the hot tears break and burn
Now, Belovèd, thou art gone
Doubt and terror have their turn
Is it love that I have known?
I have known some bitter things
Anguish, anger, solitude
Year by year an evil brings
Year by year denies a good
March winds violate my springs
I have known how sickness bends
I have known how sorrow breaks
How quick hopes have sudden ends
How the heart thinks till it aches
Of the smile of buried friends
Last, I have known thee, my brave
Noble thinker, lover, doer!
The best knowledge last I have
But thou comest as the thrower
Of fresh flowers upon a grave
Count what feelings used to move me!
Can this love assort with those?
Thou, who art so far above me
Wilt thou stoop so, for repose?
Is it true that thou canst love me?
Do not blame me if I doubt thee
I can call love by it's name
When thine arm is wrapt about me
But even love seems not the same
When I sit alone, without thee
In thy clear eyes I descried
Many a proof of love, to day
But to-night, those unbelied
Speechful eyes being gone away
There’s the proof to seek, beside
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
Only thou canst answer yes!
And, thou gone, the proof’s disprovèd
And the cry rings answerless
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
Who shall answer yes or no?
What is provèd or disprovèd
When my soul inquireth so
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
I have seen thy heart to day
Never open to the crowd
While to love me aye and aye
Was the vow as it was vowed
By thine eyes of steadfast grey
Now I sit alone, alone
And the hot tears break and burn
Now, Belovèd, thou art gone
Doubt and terror have their turn
Is it love that I have known?
I have known some bitter things
Anguish, anger, solitude
Year by year an evil brings
Year by year denies a good
March winds violate my springs
I have known how sickness bends
I have known how sorrow breaks
How quick hopes have sudden ends
How the heart thinks till it aches
Of the smile of buried friends
Last, I have known thee, my brave
Noble thinker, lover, doer!
The best knowledge last I have
But thou comest as the thrower
Of fresh flowers upon a grave
Count what feelings used to move me!
Can this love assort with those?
Thou, who art so far above me
Wilt thou stoop so, for repose?
Is it true that thou canst love me?
Do not blame me if I doubt thee
I can call love by it's name
When thine arm is wrapt about me
But even love seems not the same
When I sit alone, without thee
In thy clear eyes I descried
Many a proof of love, to day
But to-night, those unbelied
Speechful eyes being gone away
There’s the proof to seek, beside
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?
Only thou canst answer yes!
And, thou gone, the proof’s disprovèd
And the cry rings answerless
Dost thou love me, my Belovèd?