"Hear me
forswear
his roof by night,
His bread and salt by day,
His talkings at the wood-fire hearth,
His greetings by the way,
His answering looks, his systemed books,
All man, for aye and aye.
His bread and salt by day,
His talkings at the wood-fire hearth,
His greetings by the way,
His answering looks, his systemed books,
All man, for aye and aye.
Elizabeth Browning
O wave defiled!
Our curse hath made you so.
XIV.
'_We! _ and _our_ curse! do _I_ partake
The desiccating sin?
Have _I_ the apple at my lips?
The money-lust within?
Do _I_ human stand with the wounding hand,
To the blasting heart akin?
XV.
"Thou solemn pathos of all things
For solemn joy designed!
Behold, submissive to your cause,
A holy wrath I find
And, for your sake, the bondage break
That knits me to my kind.
XVI.
"Hear me forswear man's sympathies,
His pleasant yea and no,
His riot on the piteous earth
Whereon his thistles grow,
His changing love--with stars above,
His pride--with graves below.
XVII.
"Hear me forswear his roof by night,
His bread and salt by day,
His talkings at the wood-fire hearth,
His greetings by the way,
His answering looks, his systemed books,
All man, for aye and aye.
XVIII.
"That so my purged, once human heart,
From all the human rent,
May gather strength to pledge and drink
Your wine of wonderment,
While you pardon me all blessingly
The woe mine Adam sent.
XIX.
"And I shall feel your unseen looks
Innumerous, constant, deep
And soft as haunted Adam once,
Though sadder, round me creep,--
As slumbering men have mystic ken
Of watchers on their sleep.
XX.
"And ever, when I lift my brow
At evening to the sun,
No voice of woman or of child
Recording 'Day is done. '
Your silences shall a love express,
More deep than such an one. "
PART THE SECOND.
SHOWING TO WHOM THE VOW WAS DECLARED.
I.
The poet's vow was inly sworn,
The poet's vow was told.
He shared among his crowding friends
The silver and the gold,
They clasping bland his gift,--his hand
In a somewhat slacker hold.
II.
They wended forth, the crowding friends,
With farewells smooth and kind.
They wended forth, the solaced friends,
And left but twain behind:
One loved him true as brothers do,
And one was Rosalind.
Our curse hath made you so.
XIV.
'_We! _ and _our_ curse! do _I_ partake
The desiccating sin?
Have _I_ the apple at my lips?
The money-lust within?
Do _I_ human stand with the wounding hand,
To the blasting heart akin?
XV.
"Thou solemn pathos of all things
For solemn joy designed!
Behold, submissive to your cause,
A holy wrath I find
And, for your sake, the bondage break
That knits me to my kind.
XVI.
"Hear me forswear man's sympathies,
His pleasant yea and no,
His riot on the piteous earth
Whereon his thistles grow,
His changing love--with stars above,
His pride--with graves below.
XVII.
"Hear me forswear his roof by night,
His bread and salt by day,
His talkings at the wood-fire hearth,
His greetings by the way,
His answering looks, his systemed books,
All man, for aye and aye.
XVIII.
"That so my purged, once human heart,
From all the human rent,
May gather strength to pledge and drink
Your wine of wonderment,
While you pardon me all blessingly
The woe mine Adam sent.
XIX.
"And I shall feel your unseen looks
Innumerous, constant, deep
And soft as haunted Adam once,
Though sadder, round me creep,--
As slumbering men have mystic ken
Of watchers on their sleep.
XX.
"And ever, when I lift my brow
At evening to the sun,
No voice of woman or of child
Recording 'Day is done. '
Your silences shall a love express,
More deep than such an one. "
PART THE SECOND.
SHOWING TO WHOM THE VOW WAS DECLARED.
I.
The poet's vow was inly sworn,
The poet's vow was told.
He shared among his crowding friends
The silver and the gold,
They clasping bland his gift,--his hand
In a somewhat slacker hold.
II.
They wended forth, the crowding friends,
With farewells smooth and kind.
They wended forth, the solaced friends,
And left but twain behind:
One loved him true as brothers do,
And one was Rosalind.
