“Insufficiency”

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I.

There is no one beside thee and no one above thee,
    Thou standest alone as the nightingale sings!
    And my words that would praise thee are impotent things,
For none can express thee though all should approve thee.
    I love thee so, Dear, that I only can love thee.

II.

Say, what can I do for thee? weary thee, grieve thee?
    Lean on thy shoulder, new burdens to add?
    Weep my tears over thee, making thee sad?
Oh, hold me not—love me not! let me retrieve thee.
    I love thee so, Dear, that I only can leave thee.

“Insufficiency” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning appeared in Poems, New [2nd] Edition, Volume II, first published in 1850.

An excerpt from this poem appears in the Mr. Punch's Book of Love, 1910.