Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
That thou wast in the world a year ago,
What time I sat alone here in the snow
And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink
No moment at thy voice, but, link by link,
Went counting all my chains as if that so
They never could fall off at any blow
Struck by thy possible hand, —why, thus I drink
Of life's great cup of wonder! Wonderful,
Never to feel thee thrill the day or night
With personal act or speech, —nor ever call
Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white
Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull,
Who cannot guess God's presence out of sight.
~sonnet XX

I very much enjoyed reading this collection over the past couple of days. I read most of it aloud (the best way to experience poetry). I liked the poems more for the thoughts contained in them then for their brilliance as sonnets, but I think they were good sonnets too; someday I'll reread. My favorites were 6, 7, 20, 36. 43 (the "how do I love thee") was quite good; I'd never read it in full before. It makes more sense in context of the preceding 42.

Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
Henceforward in thy shadow.

Then thou didst come —to be,
Beloved, what they seemed . . . from out thee overcame
My soul with satisfaction of all wants:
Because God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.