And all that was death
Grows life, grows love,
Grows love!
NEVER THE TIME AND THE PLACE
1883
Never the time and the place
And the loved one all together!
This path--how soft to pace!
This May--what magic weather!
Where is the loved one's face?
In a dream that loved one's face meets mine,
But the house is narrow, the place is bleak
Where, outside, rain and wind combine
With a furtive ear, if I strive to speak,
With a hostile eye at my flushing cheek,
With a malice that marks each word, each sign!
O enemy sly and serpentine,
Uncoil thee from the waking man!
Do I hold the Past
Thus firm and fast
Yet doubt if the Future hold I can?
This path so soft to pace shall lead
Thro' the magic of May to herself indeed!
Or narrow if needs the house must he,
Outside are the storms and strangers: we--
Oh, close, safe, warm sleep I and she,
--I and she!
IV
DRAMATIC LYRICS
Browning's poetic career extended from 1833 to 1889, nearly sixty
years of fairly continuous composition.
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