Elizabeth Barrett Browning

You forget too much
That every creature, female as the male,
Stands single in responsible act and read more

You forget too much
That every creature, female as the male,
Stands single in responsible act and thought
As also in birth and death.

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,
read more

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,
A gauntlet with a gift in 't.

World's use is cold, world's love is vain,
World's cruelty is bitter bane;
But pain is not read more

World's use is cold, world's love is vain,
World's cruelty is bitter bane;
But pain is not the fruit of pain.

And lilies white, prepared to touch
The whitest thought, nor soil it much,
Of dreamer turned to read more

And lilies white, prepared to touch
The whitest thought, nor soil it much,
Of dreamer turned to lover.

O rose, who dares to name thee?
No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet,
But pale, read more

O rose, who dares to name thee?
No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet,
But pale, and hard, and dry, as stubblewheat,--
Kept seven years in a drawer, thy titles shame thee.