Sonnet+XXXII

Sonnet XXXII: The First Time
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The first time that the **sun rose** (Personification) on thine oath

To love me, I looked forward to the moon

To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon

And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.

Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;

And, looking on myself, I seemed not one

**For such man's love!--more like an out-of-tune**

**Worn viol** (Metaphor), a good singer would be wroth

To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,

Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.

I did not wrong myself so, but I placed

A wrong on thee. **For perfect strains may float**

**'Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,--** (Metaphor)

And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.