THE CLAIM by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

I

GRIEF sate upon a rock and sighed one day,
(Sighing is all her rest,)
'Wellaway, wellaway, ah wellaway!'
As ocean beat the stone, did she her breast,
'Ah wellaway! ah me! alas, ah me!'
Such sighing uttered she.

II

A Cloud spake out of heaven, as soft as rain
That falls on water, -- 'Lo,
The winds have wandered from me! I remain
Alone in the sky-waste, and cannot go
To lean my whiteness on the mountain blue
Till wanted for more dew.

III

'The sun has struck my brain to weary peace,
Whereby constrained and pale
I spin for him a larger golden fleece
Than Jason's, yearning for as full a sail.
Sweet Grief, when thou hast sighed to thy mind,
Give me a sigh for wind,

IV

'And let it carry me adown the west!'
But Love, who prostrated
Lay at Grief's foot, his lifted eyes possessed
Of her full image, answered in her stead;
'Now nay, now nay! she shall not give away
What is my wealth, for any cloud that flieth:
Where Grief makes moan,
Love claims his own,
And therefore do I lie here night and day,
And eke my life out with the breath she sigheth.'

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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