XXIII + 

Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead, + 

Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine? + 

And would the sun for thee more coldly shine, + 

Because of grave-damps falling round my head? + 

I marvelled, my Beloved, when I read + 

Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine⁠— + 

But⁠—so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine + 

While my hands tremble? Then my soul, instead + 

Of dreams of death, resumes life’s lower range. + 

Then, love me, Love! look on me⁠—breathe on me! + 

As brighter ladies do not count it strange, + 

For love, to give up acres and degree, + 

I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange + 

My near sweet view of Heaven for earth with thee! + 