Love Poem #5 Life in a Love by Robert Browning

 Happy V-day and good morning! My next favorite love poem of all time is by Robert Browning. I chose this poem in particular because it reflects his relationship with his wife during their (secret) courtship. His wife Elizabeth was a complicated woman and as it seemed to Robert at the time she did not return the same affections that he did. However, it was due to her home life which is why they ended up marrying in secret initially. Through their book of poems you can tell how passionately they both felt for each other. 

At my first read of this poem I thought it was an unrequited love poem but after many reads I believe I have been wrong. It sounds as though he may have been pushed away by the woman he loves but he proclaims his love for her will never cease as long as she was still in this world. He knew what he wanted and went for it no matter how many times it seemed as though he was about to fail. In the end it worked out for Robbie B...he got the girl. Enjoy...

Life In A Love - Robert Browning

Escape me?
Never—
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear—
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed—
But what if I fail of my purpose here?

It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And baffled, get up to begin again,—
So the chase takes up one's life, that's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound,
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope drops to ground
Than a new one, straight to the selfsame mark,
I shape me—
Ever
Removed!

Up Next: #6