Prometheus Bound (Browning, 1833)/A Vision of Life and Death
A VISION OF LIFE AND DEATH.
Mine ears were deaf to melody,
My lips were dumb to sound:
Where didst thou wander, oh my soul,
When ear and tongue were bound?
'I wander'd by the stream of time,
Made dark by human tears:
I threw my voice upon the waves,
And they did throw me theirs.'
And how did sound the waves, my soul?
And how did sound the waves?
'Hoarse, hoarse, and wild!—they ever dash'd
'Gainst ruin'd thrones and graves.'
And what sight on the shore, my soul?
And what sight on the shore?
'Twain beings sate there silently,
And sit there evermore.'
Now tell me fast and true, my soul;
Now tell me of those twain.
'One was yclothed in mourning vest,
And one, in trappings vain.
'She, in the trappings vain, was fair.
And eke fantastical:
A thousand colours dyed her garb;
A blackness bound them all.
'In part her hair was gaily wreath'd,
In part was wildly spread:
Her face did change its hue too fast,
To say 'twas pale or red.
'And when she look'd on earth, I thought
She smiled for very glee:
But when she look'd to heav'n, I knew
That tears stood in her ee.
'She held a mirror, there to gaze:
It could no cheer bestow;
For while her beauty cast the shade,
Her breath did make it go.
'A harper's harp did lie by her,
Without the harper's hest;
A monarch's crown did lie by her,
Wherein an owl had nest:
'A warrior's sword did lie by her,
Grown rusty since the fight;
A poet's lamp did lie by her:—
Ah me!—where was its light?'
And what didst thou say, O my soul,
Unto that mystic dame?
'I ask'd her of her tears, and eke
I ask'd her of her name.
'She said, she built a prince's throne;
She said, he ruled the grave;
And that the levelling worm ask'd not
If he were king or slave.
'She said, she form'd a godlike tongue,
Which lofty thoughts unsheathed;
Which roll'd its thunder round, and purged
The air the nations breathed.
'She said, that tongue, all eloquent,
With silent dust did mate;
Whereon false friends betray'd long faith,
And foes outspat their hate.
'She said, she warm'd a student's heart,
But heart and brow 'gan fade:
Alas, alas! those Delphic trees
Do cast an upas shade!
'She said, she lighted happy hearths,
Whose mirth was all forgot:
She said, she tunëd marriage bells,
Which rang when love was not.
'She said, her name was Life; and then
Out laugh'd and wept aloud,—
What time the other being strange
Lifted the veiling shroud.
'Yea! lifted she the veiling shroud,
And breathed the icy breath;
Whereat, with inward shuddering,
I knew her name was Death.
'Yea! lifted she her calm, calm brow,
Her clear cold smile on me:
Whereat within my deepness, leap'd
Mine immortality.
'She told me, it did move her smile,
To witness how I sigh'd,
Because that what was fragile brake,
And what was mortal died:
'As if that kings could grasp the earth,
Who from its dust began;
As if that suns could shine at night,
Or glory dwell with man.
'She told me, she had freed his soul,
Who aye did freedom love;
Who now reck'd not, were worms below,
Or ranker worms above!
'She said, the student's heart had beat
Against its prison dim;
Until she crush'd the bars of flesh,
And pour'd truth's light on him.
'She said, that they who left the hearth,
For aye in sunshine dwell;
She said, the funeral tolling brought
More joy than marriage bell!
'And as she spake, she spake less loud;
The stream resounded more:
Anon I nothing heard but waves
That wail'd along the shore.'
And what didst thou say, oh my soul,
Upon that mystic strife?
'I said, that Life was only Death,
That only Death was Life.'