What can I give thee back, O liberal <br />And princely giver, who hast brought the gold <br />And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold, <br />And laid them on the outside of the wall <br />For such as I to take or leave withal, <br />In unexpected largesse? am I cold, <br />Ungrateful, that for these most manifold <br />High gifts, I render nothing back at all? <br />Not so; not cold,--but very poor instead. <br />Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run <br />The colours from my life, and left so dead <br />And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done <br />To give the same as pillow to thy head. <br />Go farther! let it serve to trample on.<br /><br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-viii-what-can-i-give-thee-back/
