XXXV

If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
And be all to me? Shall I never miss
Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,
When I look up, to drop on a new range
Of walls and floors, another home than this?
Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change?
That’s hardest! If to conquer love has tried,
To conquer grief tries more, as all things prove;
For grief indeed is love and grief beside.
Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love⁠—
Yet love me⁠—wilt thou? Open thy heart wide
And fold within, the wet wings of thy dove.

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

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