Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CATARINA TO CAMOENS, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: On the door you will not enter Last Line: Be the sweetest his have seen! Subject(s): Camoens, Luiz De (1524-1580) | ||||||||
I ON the door you will not enter, I have gazed too long: adieu! Hope withdraws her peradventure; Death is near me, -- and not you. Come, O lover, Close and cover These poor eyes, you called, I ween, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' II When I heard you sing that burden In my vernal days and bowers, Other praises disregarding, I but hearkened that of yours -- Only saying In heart-playing, 'Blessed eyes mine eyes have been, If the sweetest HIS have seen!' III But all changes. At this vesper, Cold the sun shines down the door. If you stood there, would you whisper 'Love, I love you,' as before, -- Death pervading Now, and shading Eyes you sang of, that yestreen, As the sweetest ever seen? IV Yes. I think, were you beside them, Near the bed I die upon, Though their beauty you denied them, As you stood there, looking down, You would truly Call them duly, For the love's sake found therein, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' V And if you looked down upon them, And if they looked up to you, All the light which has forgone them Would be gathered back anew: They would truly Be as duly Love-transformed to beauty's sheen, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' VI But, ah me! you only see me, In your thoughts of loving man, Smiling soft perhaps and dreamy Through the wavings of my fan; And unweeting Go repeating, In your reverie serene, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen --' VII While my spirit leans and reaches From my body still and pale, Fain to hear what tender speech is In your love to help my bale. O my poet, Come and show it! Come, latest love, to glean 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' VIII O my poet, O my prophet, When you praised their sweetness so, Did you think, in singing of it, That it might be near to go? Had you fancies From their glances, That the grave would quickly screen 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen'? IX No reply. The fountain's warble In the courtyard sounds alone. As the water to the marble So my heart falls with a moan From love-sighing To this dying. Death forerunneth Love to win 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' X Will you come? When I'm departed Where all sweetnesses are hid, Where thy voice, my tender-hearted, Will not lift up either lid. Cry, O lover, Love is over! Cry, beneath the cypress green, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' XI When the angelus is ringing, Near the convent will you walk, And recall the choral singing Which brought angels down our talk? Spirit-shriven I viewed Heaven, Till you smiled -- 'Is earth unclean, Sweetest eyes were ever seen?' XII When beneath the place-lattice You ride slow as you have done, And you see a face there that is Not the old familiar one, -- Will you oftly Murmur softly, 'Here ye watched me morn and e'en, Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' XIII When the palace-ladies, sitting Round your gittern, shall have said, 'Poet, sing those verses written For the lady who is dead,' Will you tremble Yet dissemble, -- Or sing hoarse, with tears between, 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen?' XIV 'Sweetest eyes!' how sweet in flowings The repeated cadence is! Though you sang a hundred poems, Still the best one would be this. I can hear it 'Twixt my spirit And the earth-noise intervene -- Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' XV But the priest waits for the praying, And the choir are on their knees, And the soul must pass away in Strains more solemn-high than these Miserere For the weary! Oh, no longer for Catrine 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' XVI Keep my riband, take and keep it, (I have loosed it from my hair) Feeling, while you overweep it, Not alone in your despair, Since with saintly Watch unfaintly Out of heaven shall o'er you lean 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' XVII But -- but now -- yet unremoved Up to heaven, they glisten fast; You may cast away, Beloved, In your future all my past: Such old phrases May be praises For some fairer bosom-queen -- 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen!' XVIII Eyes of mine, what are ye doing? Faithless, faithless, -- praised amiss If a tear be of your showing, Dropt for any hope of HIS! Death has boldness Besides coldness, If unworthy tears demean 'Sweetest eyes were ever seen.' XIX I will look out to his future; I will bless it till it shine. Should he ever be a suitor Unto sweeter eyes than mine, Sunshine gild them, Angels shield them, Whatsoever eyes terrene Be the sweetest HIS have seen! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TWO DEATHS: 2. DEATH OF CAMOENS by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON CAMOENS (BEFORE) (1) by HERMAN MELVILLE CAMOENS (BEFORE) (2) by HERMAN MELVILLE CAMOENS IN THE HOSPITAL (AFTER) by HERMAN MELVILLE A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A COURT LADY by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A MAN'S REQUIREMENTS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A PORTRAIT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A VIEW ACROSS THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |
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