587. Sonnets from the Portuguese X

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861)

  YET, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed

  And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,

  Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light

  Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:

  And love is fire. And when I say at need

  I love thee… mark!… I love thee—in thy sight

  I stand transfigured, glorified aright,

  With conscience of the new rays that proceed

  Out of my face toward thine. There’s nothing low

  In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures

  Who love God, God accepts while loving so.

  And what I feel, across the inferior features

  Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show

  How that great work of Love enhances Nature’s.