XXVI <br /> <br /> <br />I lived with visions for my company <br />Instead of men and women, years ago, <br />And found them gentle mates, nor thought to know <br />A sweeter music than they played to me. <br />But soon their trailing purple was not free <br />Of this world's dust, their lutes did silent grow, <br />And I myself grew faint and blind below <br />Their vanishing eyes. Then THOU didst come—to be, <br />Beloved, what they seemed. Their shining fronts, <br />Their songs, their splendors (better, yet the same, <br />As river-water hallowed into fonts), <br />Met in thee, and from out thee overcame <br />My soul with satisfaction of all wants: <br />Because God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.<br /><br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-26-i-lived-with-visions-for-my-company/
