From The Guardian:
Love is blossoming in the British Library – and not just in the secluded corners of Humanities 2. Crouching beneath a walkway on the far wall of the foyer, a small selection of books, manuscripts, sketches and other memorabilia charts the life of Britain’s favourite love poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. After all, unless you’ve delivered a hand-crafted valentine with specially written love poem, unveiled a surprise sequence of sonnets charting the growth of your devotion and arranged an escape from the “vile slavery” your paramour suffers under in their parental abode, well … does it really count?
The love story between Elizabeth and Robert is charming enough to melt the heart of the most determined cynic. They first met in 1845 after exchanging compliments on each other’s poetry, then began corresponding – despite her father’s disapproval – before marrying and eloping to Italy in 1846, where, naturally, they lived happily ever after.
The bond I undertake to seek
exchanges comforts
found from understanding
and being understood
although
when I gaze upon your form
I see emotion as a mirageyou, the one love
who will never truly stand before me.Your flesh can be only touched
in dreams
when reality comes alive
in epic tales, played out nightly
or in that half snooze state
I sometimes get to fool around inA world where my desire
for you can be indulged.
More here.