Sonnets from the Portuguese — What can I give thee back, O liberal

VIII

What can I give thee back, O liberal And princely giver, who hast brought the gold And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold, And laid them on the outside of the wall For such as I to take or leave withal, In unexpected largesse?

am I cold, Ungrateful, that for these most manifold High gifts, I render nothing back at all?

Not so; not cold,—but very poor instead.

Ask God who knows.

For frequent tears have run The colours from my life, and left so dead And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done To give the same as pillow to thy head.

Go farther!

let it serve to trample on.