Browning's Funeral

Browning's Funeral

Original Text
Poems of Henrietta A. Huxley with Three of Thomas Henry Huxley (London: Duckworth, 1913): 51-52. 9700.d.1043 Cambridge University Library; dar Fisher Rare Book Library (autograph)
December 31, 1889
2Our kings are sepulchred, a king of song,
3Browning, among his peers is laid to rest,
4Borne to the tomb by loving hearts, and stoled
5In shining raiment that his genius wove.
6No lingering illness his, with swift surprise
7Death flashed the Light Eternal in his eyes
8And blinded Life. In this way he was blest.
9Perhaps in some far star he now has met
11In life past death the passion of his life,
12And they again as once in spirit blent
13Look thro' the veil this day and hear the fret
14Of many feet, the swelling music spent
15On mourning listeners. With voices low,
16Chanting their hymn, the boys sing as they go,
18The perishable forms these two once wore
19In different lands lie sundered by the sea;
20Their spirits smile at this our fond regret:
21"What matters anything since we have met,"
22They radiant sing. Together! oh, what more
23Can love, long parted, from the Eterrnal crave?
24And if there be no meeting past the grave,
25If all is darkness, silence, yet 'tis rest.
26Be not afraid, ye waiting hearts that weep,
27For God still giveth his belovèd sleep,
28And if an endless sleep he wills, -- so best.

Notes

1] Abbey: Westminster Abbey. Back to Line
10] The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). Back to Line
17] The epigraph for Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Sleep," from Psalms 127.2. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1913
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002