Can it be right to give what I can give ?
To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears
As salt as mine , and hear the sighing years
Re - sighing on my lips renunciative through
Those infrequent smiles which fail to live
For all thy adjurations ? O my fears , that
This can be right , we are not peers ,
So to be lovers ; and I own , and grieve ,
That givers of such gifts as mine are , must
Be counted with the ungenerous . Out , alas !
I will soil thy purple with my dust ,
Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice - glass ,
Nor give thee any love ... which were unjust .
Beloved , I only love thee ! Let it pass .

" Sonnets From The Portuguese IX "
--- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
( 1806 - 1861 )