The Poetry Corner

Natural Magic

By Robert Browning

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, oerfruited, oerflowered? 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: wheres cold now, wheres 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!