ROBERT BROWNING.
I.
All's over, then: does truth sound bitterAs one at first believes?Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitterAbout your cottage eaves!
II.
And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly,I noticed that, to-day;One day more bursts them open fully—You know the red turns grey.
III.
To-morrow we meet the same then, dearest?May I take your hand in mine?Mere friends are we,—well, friends the merestKeep much that I resign:
IV.
For each glance of the eye so bright and black,Though I keep with heart's endeavour,—Your voice, when you wish the snowdrops back,Though it stay in my soul for ever!— V.Yet I will but say what mere friends say,Or only a thought stronger;I will hold your hand but as long as all may,Or so very little longer!
About author.
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him among the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax. His career began well, but shrank for a time.
On Wikipedia.