Phoebe Anna Traquair

'Sonnets from the Portuguese'

Sonnet 41

I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
With thanks and love from mine Deep thanks to all
Who paused a little near the prison wall
To hear my music in its louder parts
Ere they went onward, each one to the mart's
Or temple's occupation, beyond call
But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fall
When the sob took it, thy divinest Art's
Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
To hearken what I said between my tears, –
Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot
My soul's full meaning into future years,
That they should lend it utterance, and salute
Love that endures, from Life that disappears.


– text transcribed from Phoebe Anna Traquair's manuscript.


Folio 42 from Phoebe Anna Traquair's illuminated copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Sonnets from the Portuguese', 1892-1897
Library reference: MS.8127, f.42
Date: 1896

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