English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 679. Never the Time and the Place |
| | | Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
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| 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? | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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 | 15 |
| Yet doubt if the Future hold I can? | |
| This path so soft to pace shall lead | |
| Through the magic of May to herself indeed! | |
| Or narrow if needs the house must be, | |
| Outside are the storms and strangers: we— | 20 |
| Oh, close, safe, warm, sleep I and she, I and she. | |
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