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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NATURAL MAGIC by ROBERT BROWNING

Poet Analysis

First Line: ALL I CAN SAY IS - I SAW IT
Last Line: A FAIRY-TALE! ONLY -- I FEEL IT!
Subject(s): MAGIC;

ALL I can say is -- I saw it!
The room was as bare as your hand.
I locked in the swarth little lady, -- I swear,
From the head to the foot of her -- well, quite as bare!
"No Nautch shall cheat me," said I, "taking my stand
At this bolt which I draw!" And this bolt -- I withdraw it,
And there laughs the lady, not bare, but embowered
With -- who knows what verdure, o'erfruited, o'erflowered?
Impossible! Only -- I saw it!

All I can sing is -- I feel it!
This life was as blank as that room;
I let you pass in here. Precaution, indeed?
Walls, ceiling and floor, -- not a chance for a weed!
Wide opens the entrance: where's cold now, where's gloom?
No May to sow seed here, no June to reveal it.
Behold you enshrined in these blooms of your bringing,
These fruits of your bearing -- nay, birds of your winging!
A fairy-tale! Only -- I feel it!



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