Never the time and the place <br />And the loved one all together! <br />This path--how soft to pace! <br />This May -- what magic weather! <br />Where is the loved one's face? <br />In a dream that loved one's face meets mine, <br />But the house is narrow, the place is bleak <br />Where, outside, rain and wind combine <br />With a furtive ear, if I strive to speak, <br />With a hostile eye at my flushing cheek, <br />With a malice that marks each word, each sign! <br />O enemy sly and serpentine, <br />Uncoil thee from the waking man! <br />Do I hold the Past <br />Thus firm and fast <br />Yet doubt if the Future hold I can? <br />This path so soft to pace shall lead <br />Thro' the magic of May to herself indeed! <br />Or narrow if needs the house must be, <br />Outside are the storms and strangers: we <br />Oh, close, safe, warm sleep I and she, -- <br />I and she!<br /><br />Robert Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/never-the-time-and-the-place/
