Sonnet XV — Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
Sonnets from the Portuguese, 1850
Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wearToo calm and sad a face in front of thine;For we two look two ways, and cannot shineWith the same sunlight on our brow and hair.On me thou lookest, with no doubting care,As on a bee shut in a crystalline,—For sorrow hath shut me safe in love's divine,And to spread wing and fly in the outer airWere most impossible failure, if I stroveTo fail so. But I look on thee . . on thee . .Beholding, besides love, the end of love,Hearing oblivion beyond memory . . .As one who sits and gazes, from above,Over the rivers to the bitter sea.