IX

Can it be right to give what I can give?
To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears
As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years
Re-sighing on my lips renunciative
Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live
For all thy adjurations? O my fears,
That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,
So to be lovers; and I own and grieve
That givers of such gifts as mine are, must
Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!
I will not soil thy purple with my dust,
Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,
Nor give thee any love⁠—which were unjust.
Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass.

Where this text comes from

First published in Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/elizabeth-barrett-browning_sonnets-from-the-portuguese, sonnets-from-the-portuguese.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L14.

Cite this poem

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861). “IX.” First published in Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/elizabeth-barrett-browning/ix/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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