598. Sonnets from the Portuguese XXI

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861)

  SAY over again, and yet once over again,

  That thou dost love me. Though the word repeated

  Should seem “a cuckoo-song,” as thou dost treat it,

  Remember, never to the hill or plain,

  Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain

  Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed.

  Belovèd, I, amid the darkness greeted

  By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt’s pain

  Cry, “Speak once more—thou lovest!” Who can fear

  Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,

  Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?

  Say thou dost love me, love me, love me—toll

  The silver iterance!—only minding, Dear,

  To love me also in silence with thy soul.