Sonnet XI: The Love-Letter

Warmed by her hand and shadowed by her hair

As close she leaned and poured her heart through thee,

Whereof the articulate throbs accompany

The smooth black stream that makes thy whiteness fair,—

Sweet fluttering sheet, even of her breath aware,—

Oh let thy silent song disclose to me

That soul wherewith her lips and eyes agree

Like married music in Love's answering air.

Fain had I watched her when, at some fond thought,

Her bosom to the writing closelier press'd,

And her breast's secrets peered into her breast;

When, through eyes raised an instant, her soul sought

My soul, and from the sudden confluence caught

The words that made her love the loveliest.