XXXVI <br /> <br />When we met first and loved, I did not build <br />Upon the event with marble. Could it mean <br />To last, a love set pendulous between <br />Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled, <br />Distrusting every light that seemed to gild <br />The onward path, and feared to overlean <br />A finger even. And, though I have grown serene <br />And strong since then, I think that God has willed <br />A still renewable fear . . . O love, O troth . . . <br />Lest these enclasped hands should never hold, <br />This mutual kiss drop down between us both <br />As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold. <br />And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath, <br />Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold.<br /><br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-36-when-we-met-first-and-loved-i-did-not/
