Love

Song: "Nay but You, Who Do Not Love Her"

by Robert Browning 1812–1889

From Dramatic Lyrics (1842)

Love

Nay but you, who do not love her,
Is she not pure gold, my mistress?
Holds earth aught--speak truth--above her?
Aught like this tress, see, and this tress,
And this last fairest tress of all,
So fair, see, ere I let it fall?

Because you spend your lives in praising;
To praise, you search the wide world over:
Then why not witness, calmly gazing,
If earth holds aught--speak truth--above her?
Above this tress, and this, I touch
But cannot praise, I love so much!

MLA

Browning, Robert. “Song: "Nay but You, Who Do Not Love Her".” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/browning_r/18/.

Chicago

Browning, Robert. “Song: "Nay but You, Who Do Not Love Her".” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/browning_r/18/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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