And wilt thou have me fashion into speech <br />The love I bear thee, finding words enough, <br />And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough, <br />Between our faces, to cast light upon each? <br />I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach <br />My hand to hold my spirit so far off <br />From myself.. me.. that I should bring thee proof, <br />In words of love hid in me...out of reach. <br />Nay, let the silence of my womanhood <br />Commend my woman-love to thy belief, <br />Seeing that I stand unwon (however wooed) <br />And rend the garment of my life in brief <br />By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude, <br />Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.<br /><br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xiii-and-wilt-thou-have-me/
