what might be

another Browning

by Roberto Lavidez

foul be

the world

or fair

more 

or less

how can

I care?

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

schemes 

of life

its best rules

and right uses

the courage

that gains

and the

prudence

that keeps

what men

strive for

who knows

what’s fit

for us

had fate

proposed

bliss here

should

sublimate

my being

had I signed

the bond

still one must

lead some

life beyond

have a bliss

to die with

dim-descried

we speak

of what is

not of what

might be

and how’t

were better

if ‘t were

otherwise

did I stand

question and

make answer

still with the

same result

of smiling

disbelief

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

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

I till

this earth

my sweat

and blood

manure

all the

long day

that barrenly

grows dusk

how well

I know

what I mean

to do

when the

long dark

autumn

evenings

come

I have shed

sweat enough

left flesh

and bone

on many

a flinty

furlong

of this land

dream the life

I am never

to mix with

and image

the show

of mankind

as they live

in those

fashions

I hardly

shall know

we mortals

cross

the ocean

of this

world

each in his

average

cabin

of a life

let’s sink

and so

take refuge

as it were

from life’s

excessive

altitude

to life’s

breathable

wayside

shelter

at its base

it’s wiser

being good

than bad

it’s safer

being meek

than fierce

it’s fitter

being sane

than mad

think when

our one soul

understands

the great

word which

makes all

things new

else it loses

what it

lived for

and eternally

must lose it

every one

knows for

what his

excellence

will serve

but no one

ever will

consider

for what

his worst

defect

might serve

god and man

and what duty

I owe both

I dare

to say

I have

confronted

these

in thought

but no

such faculty

helped here

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?

I love it

with my heart

unsatisfied

I try it with

my reason

nor discept

from any point

I probe and

pronounce

sound

what so false

as truth is

false to thee?

where the

serpent’s

tooth is

shun the tree

what so wild

as words are

I and thou

in debate

as birds are

Hawk on

bough!

here I wait

the end of

this ado

which wins

earth’s poet

or the

Heavenly

Muse

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

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

had I but all

of them

thee and thy

treasures

what a wild

crowd of

invisible

pleasures!

flower o’

the clove

all the Latin

I construe

is “amo”

I love!

©robertolavidez2014