Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The world goes whispering to its own,
"This anguish pierces to the bone;"
And tender friends go read more

The world goes whispering to its own,
"This anguish pierces to the bone;"
And tender friends go sighing round,
"What love can ever cure this wound?"
My days go on, my days go on.

Let no one till his death
Be called unhappy. Measure not the work
Until the day's out read more

Let no one till his death
Be called unhappy. Measure not the work
Until the day's out and the labour done.

In this bad, twisted, topsy-turvy world,
Where all the heaviest wrongs get uppermost.

In this bad, twisted, topsy-turvy world,
Where all the heaviest wrongs get uppermost.

I wish I were the lily's leaf
To fade upon that bosom warm,
Content to wither, pale read more

I wish I were the lily's leaf
To fade upon that bosom warm,
Content to wither, pale and brief,
The trophy of thy paler form.

A white rosebud for a guerdon.

A white rosebud for a guerdon.