Song

Song

Original Text

Robert Browning, The Poetical Works of Robert Browning (London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1888), 6: 47.

1Nay but you, who do not love her,
2     Is she not pure gold, my mistress?
3Holds earth aught --- speak truth --- above her?
4     Aught like this tress, see, and this tress,
5And this last fairest tress of all,
6So fair, see, ere I let it fall?
7Because, you spend your lives in praising;
8     To praise, you search the wide world over:
9Then why not witness, calmly gazing,
10     If earth holds aught --- speak truth --- above her?
11Above this tress, and this, I touch
12But cannot praise, I love so much!
Publication Start Year
1845
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2005
Rhyme