what might

be Browning

by Roberto Lavidez

foul be

the world

or fair

more or less

how can I care

well are we

demigods or

merely clay

is success still

attendant

on desert

is this

we live on

heaven and

the final

state

or earth

which means

probation

to the end

yes

earth

yes

mere ignoble

earth

now do I

mis-take

mistake

do I wrong

your weakness

and call it

worth

expect all

harvest

dread

no dearth

seal my

sense up

for your sake

every one

knows for

what his

excellence

will serve

but no one

ever will

consider for

what his

worst defect

might serve

it’s wiser

being good

than bad

it’s safer

being meek

than fierce

its fitter

being sane

than mad

had fate

proposed

bliss here

should

sublimate

my being

had I signed

the bond

still one must

lead some

life beyond

dream

the life

I am never

to mix with

and image

the show of

mankind

as they live

in those

fashions

I hardly

know

we speak

of what is

not of what

might be

and how’t

were better

if ‘t were

otherwise

I have shed

sweat enough

left flesh

and bone

on many

a flinty

furlong

of this land

how well

I know

what the

long dark

autumn

evenings

come

I till

this earth

my sweat

and blood

manure

all the

long day

that barrenly

grows dusk

god and man

and what duty

I owe both

I dare say

I have

confronted

these in

thought

but no such

faculty

helped here

how many

precious

months

and years

of youth

had passed

that speed

so fast

before we

found it out

at last

the world

and what

it fears

do you know

I have often

had a dream

of man’s

poor spirit

in its

progress

still losing

true life

for ever

and a day

through ever

trying to be

and ever

being

being as i

find much

reason

to conceive

intended

to be

viewed

eventually

as a great

whole

not analyzed

to parts

but each

part

having

reference

to all

did I stand

question

and make

answer

still

with the

same result

of smiling

disbelief

I love it

with my

heart

unsatisfied

I try it

with my

reason

nor discept

from

any point

I probe and

pronounce

sound

what does it

all mean

poet

well

your brains

beat into

rhythm

you tell

what we

felt only

you

expressed

you

hold things

beautiful

the best

and pace

them in

rhyme so

side by side

let’s sink

and so take

refuge

as it were

from life’s

excessive

altitude

to life’s

breathable

wayside

shelter

at its base

and now

a flower

is just

a flower

man

bird

beast

are but

beast

bird

man

simply

themselves

the shell

sucks fast

the rock

the fish

strikes

through

the sea

the snake

both swims

and slides

forth

range

the beasts

the birds

take flight

till life’s

mechanics

can no

further go

here I wait

the end

of this ado

which wins

earth’s poet

or the

heavenly

muse

what so

wild as

words are

I and thou

in debate

as birds are

hawk on

bough

flower

o’ the clove

all the latin

I construe

is ‘amo’

I love

©robertolavidez2014