MARGARET TO DOLCINO
Reading edition
Ask if I love thee? Oh, smiles cannot tell Plainer what tears are now showing too well. Had I not loved thee, my sky had been clear: Had I not loved thee, I had not been here, Weeping by thee.
Ask if I love thee? How else could I borrow Pride from man’s slander, and strength from my sorrow? Laugh when they sneer at the fanatic’s bride, Knowing no bliss, save to toil and abide Weeping by thee.
Andernach on the Rhine, August 1851.