Selections From The Poems And Plays Of Robert Browning Part 10

Here, the creature surpa.s.s the Creator--the end what Began?

Would I fain in my impotent yearning do all for this man, 270 And dare doubt he alone shall not help him, who yet alone can?

Would it ever have entered my mind, the bare will, much less power, To bestow on this Saul what I sang of, the marvelous dower Of the life he was gifted and filled with? to make such a soul, Such a body, and then such an earth for insphering the 275 whole?

And doth it not enter my mind (as my warm tears attest) These good things being given, to go on, and give one more, the best?

Aye, to save and redeem and restore him, maintain at the height This perfection--succeed with life's day-spring, death's minute of night?

Interpose at the difficult minute, s.n.a.t.c.h Saul the mistake, 280 Saul the failure, the ruin he seems now--and bid him awake From the dream, the probation, the prelude, to find himself set Clear and safe in new light and new life--a new harmony yet To be run, and continued, and ended--who knows?--or endure!

The man taught enough, by life's dream, of the rest to make 285 sure; By the pain-throb, triumphantly winning intensified bliss, And the next world's reward and repose, by the struggles in this.

XVIII

"I believe it! 'Tis thou, G.o.d, that givest, 'tis I who receive: In the first is the last, in thy will is my power to believe.

All's one gift; thou canst grant it moreover, as prompt to 290 my prayer As I breathe out this breath, as I open these arms to the air.

From thy will, stream the worlds, life and nature, thy dread Sabaoth: _I_ will?--the mere atoms despise me! Why am I not loath To look that, even that in the face too? Why is it I dare Think but lightly of such impuissance? What stops my 295 despair?

This;--'tis not what man Does which exalts him, but what man Would do!

See the King--I would help him but cannot, the wishes fall through.

Could I wrestle to raise him from sorrow, grow poor to enrich, To fill up his life, starve my own out, I would--knowing which, I know that my service is perfect. Oh, speak through me now! 300 Would I suffer for him that I love? So wouldst thou--so wilt thou!

So shall crown thee the topmost, ineffablest, uttermost crown-- And thy love fill infinitude wholly, nor leave up nor down One spot for the creature to stand in! It is by no breath, Turn of eye, wave of hand, that salvation joins issue with 305 death!

As thy Love is discovered almighty, almighty be proved Thy power, that exists with and for it, of being Beloved!

He who did most, shall bear most; the strongest shall stand the most weak.

'Tis the weakness in strength, that I cry for! my flesh, that I seek In the G.o.dhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be 310 A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me, Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever: a Hand like this hand Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand!"

XIX

I know not too well how I found my way home in the night.

There were witnesses, cohorts about me, to left and to 315 right, Angels, powers, the unuttered, unseen, the alive, the aware; I repressed, I got through them as hardly, as strugglingly there, As a runner beset by the populace famished for news-- Life or death. The whole earth was awakened, h.e.l.l loosed with her crews; And the stars of night beat with emotion, and tingled and 320 shot Out in fire the strong pain of pent knowledge; but I fainted not, For the Hand still impelled me at once and supported, suppressed All the tumult, and quenched it with quiet, and holy behest, Till the rapture was shut in itself, and the earth sank to rest.

Anon at the dawn, all that trouble had withered from earth-- 325 Not so much, but I saw it die out in the day's tender birth; In the gathered intensity brought to the gray of the hills; In the shuddering forests' held breath; in the sudden wind-thrills; In the startled wild beasts that bore off, each with eye sidling still Though averted with wonder and dread; in the birds stiff and 330 chill That rose heavily, as I approached them, made stupid with awe: E'en the serpent that slid away silent--he felt the new law.

The same stared in the white humid faces upturned by the flowers; The same worked in the heart of the cedar and moved the vine-bowers: And the little brooks witnessing murmured, persistent and 335 low, With their obstinate, all but hushed voices--"E'en so, it is so!"

MY STAR

All that I know Of a certain star Is, it can throw (Like the angled spar) Now a dart of red, 5 Now a dart of blue; Till my friends have said They would fain see, too, My star that dartles the red and the blue!

Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled: 10 They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.

What matter to me if their star is a world?

Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.

TWO IN THE CAMPAGNA

I wonder do you feel today As I have felt since, hand in hand, We sat down on the gra.s.s, to stray In spirit better through the land, This morn of Rome and May? 5

For me, I touched a thought, I know, Has tantalized me many times, (Like turns of thread the spiders throw Mocking across our path) for rhymes To catch at and let go. 10

Help me to hold it! First it left The yellowing fennel, run to seed There, branching from the brickwork's cleft, Some old tomb's ruin; yonder weed Took up the floating weft, 15

Where one small orange cup ama.s.sed Five beetles--blind and green they grope Among the honey-meal; and last, Everywhere on the gra.s.sy slope I traced it. Hold it fast! 20

The champaign with its endless fleece Of feathery gra.s.ses everywhere!

Silence and pa.s.sion, joy and peace, An everlasting wash of air-- Rome's ghost since her decease. 25

Such life here, through such lengths of hours, Such miracles performed in play, Such primal naked forms of flowers, Such letting nature have her way While heaven looks from its towers! 30

How say you? Let us, O my dove, Let us be unashamed of soul, As earth lies bare to heaven above!

How is it under our control To love or not to love? 35

I would that you were all to me, You that are just so much, no more, Nor yours nor mine, nor slave nor free!

Where does the fault lie? What the core O' the wound, since wound must be? 40

I would I could adopt your will, See with your eyes, and set my heart Beating by yours, and drink my fill At your soul's springs--your part my part In life, for good and ill. 45

No. I yearn upward, touch you close, Then stand away. I kiss your cheek, Catch your soul's warmth--I pluck the rose And love it more than tongue can speak-- Then the good minute goes. 50

Already how am I so far Out of that minute? Must I go Still like the thistle-ball, no bar, Onward, whenever light winds blow, Fixed by no friendly star? 55

Just when I seemed about to learn!

Where is the thread now? Off again!

The old trick! Only I discern-- Infinite pa.s.sion, and the pain Of finite hearts that yearn. 60

IN THREE DAYS

So, I shall see her in three days And just one night, but nights are short, Then two long hours, and that is morn.

See how I come, unchanged, unworn!

Feel, where my life broke off from thine, 5 How fresh the splinters keep and fine-- Only a touch and we combine!

Too long, this time of year, the days!

But nights, at least the nights are short.

As night shows where her one moon is, 10 A hand's-breadth of pure light and bliss, So life's night gives my lady birth And my eyes hold her! What is worth The rest of heaven, the rest of earth?

O loaded curls, release your store 15 Of warmth and scent, as once before The tingling hair did, lights and darks Outbreaking into fairy sparks, When under curl and curl I pried After the warmth and scent inside, 20 Through lights and darks how manifold-- The dark inspired, the light controlled!

As early Art embrowns the gold.

What great fear, should one say, "Three days That change the world might change as well 25 Your fortune; and if joy delays, Be happy that no worse befell!"

What small fear, if another says, "Three days and one short night beside May throw no shadow on your ways; 30 But years must teem with change untried, With chance not easily defied, With an end somewhere undescried."

No fear!--or if a fear be born This minute, it dies out in scorn. 35 Fear? I shall see her in three days And one night, now the nights are short, Then just two hours, and that is morn.