Sonnet - Dramatis Person
By Robert Browning
Eyes, calm beside thee, (Lady, couldst thou know!)
May turn away thick with fast-gathering tears:
I glance not where all gaze: thrilling and low
Their passionate praises reach thee my cheek wears
Alone no wonder when thou passest by;
Thy tremulous lids bent and suffused reply
To the irrepressible homage which doth glow
On every lip but mine: if in thine ears
Their accents linger and thou dost recall
Me as I stood, still, guarded, very pale,
Beside each votarist whose lighted brow
Wore worship like an aureole, Oer them all
My beauty, thou wilt murmur, did prevail
Save that one only:Lady, couldst thou know!