free-verse18 lines
Natural Magic
by Robert BrowningAll 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!