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Browning,
Elizabeth Barrett
An English poet of the Romantic Movement.. English poet prominent in the Victorian era
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Rosalind's Scroll
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Written by:
Elizabeth Barrett
Browning
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I LEFT thee last a child at heart
A woman scarce in years:
I come to thee a solemn corpse
Which neither feels nor fears.
I have no breath to use in sighs; 5
They laid the dead-weights on mine eyes
To seal them safe from tears.
Look on me with thine own calm look:
I meet it calm as thou.
No look of thine can change this smile 10
Or break thy sinful vow:
I tell thee that my poor scorn'd heart
Is of thine earth¡ªthine earth¡ªa part:
It cannot vex thee now.
I have pray'd for thee with bursting sob 15
When passion's course was free;
I have pray'd for thee with silent lips
In the anguish none could see;
They whisper'd oft 'She sleepeth soft'¡ª
But I only pray'd for thee. 20
Go to! I pray for thee no more:
The corpse's tongue is still;
Its folded fingers point to heaven
But point there stiff and chill:
No farther wrong no farther woe 25
Hath licence from the sin below
Its tranquil heart to thrill.
I charge thee by the living's prayer
And the dead's silentness
To wring from out thy soul a cry 30
Which God shall hear and bless!
Lest Heaven's own palm droop in my hand
And pale among the saints I stand
A saint companionless.
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