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Pisgah-Sights

By Robert Browning

Topics: classic

I     Over the ball of it,     Peering and prying,     How I see all of it,     Life there, outlying!     Roughness and smoothness,     Shine and defilement,     Grace and uncouthness:     One reconcilement.     Orbed as appointed,     Sister with brother     Joins, neer disjointed     One from the other.     Alls lend-and-borrow;     Good, see, wants evil,     Joy demands sorrow,     Angel weds devil!     Which things must, why be?     Vain our endeavor!     So shall things aye be     As they were ever.     Such things should so be!     Sage our desistence!     Rough-smooth let globe be,     Mixed, mans existence!     Man, wise and foolish,     Lover and scorner,     Docile and mulish,     Keep each his corner!     Honey yet gall of it!     Theres the life lying,     And I see all of it,     Only, Im dying! II     Could I but live again     Twice my life over,     Would I once strive again?     Would not I cover     Quietly all of it,     Greed and ambition,     So, from the pall of it,     Pass to fruition?     Soft! Id say, Soul mine!     Three-score and ten years,     Let the blind mole mine     Digging out deniers!     Let the dazed hawk soar,     Claim the suns rights tool     Turf tis thy walks oer,     Foliage thy flights to.     Only a learner,     Quick one or slow one,     Just a discerner,     I would teach no one.     I am earths native:     No rearranging it!     I be creative,     Chopping and changing it?     March, men, my fellows!     Those who, above me,     (Distance so mellows)     Fancy you love me:     Those who, below me,     (Distance makes great so)     Free to forego me,     Fancy you hate so!     Praising, reviling,     Worst head and best head,     Past me defiling,     Never arrested,     Wanters, abounders,     March, in gay mixture,     Men, my surrounders!     I am the fixture.     So shall I fear thee,     Mightiness yonder!     Mock-sun, more near thee,     What is to wonder?     So shall I love thee,     Down in the dark, lest     Glowworm I prove thee,     Star that now sparklest

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Robert Browning

About Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812–1889) was a major English Victorian poet who perfected the dramatic monologue form. His poems—including "My Last Duchess," "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," and "Fra Lippo Lippi"—explore psychology, morality, and art through the voices of vividly drawn characters.

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