Sonnet 23 - Is It Indeed So? If I Lay Here Dead

Elizabeth Barrett BrowningElizabeth Barrett Browning

1 min read · 12.4K reads

XXIIIIs it indeed so? If I lay here dead,
Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?
And would the sun for thee more coldly shine
Because of grave-damps falling round my head?
I marvelled, my Beloved, when I read
Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine—
But . . . so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine
While my hands tremble ? Then my soul, instead
Of dreams of death, resumes life’s lower range.
Then, love me, Love! look on me—breathe on me!
As brighter ladies do not count it strange,
For love, to give up acres and degree,
I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
About the poet

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

1806 - 1861/Female/EnglishWriting poetry since age six, Barrett's work was an inspiration to poets like Poe and Dickinson.

View profile & all 50 Poems / Stories

More Poetry & Stories You May Like