Wednesday Poem: Meeting at Night; Parting at Morning

I went to a friend's literary event tonight, and it got me to thinking about Keats and negative capability. And I was thinking about writing something on that tonight, but I want to put a little bit more thought into it before I type it up. Everyone needs a little bit of poetry, right? So I'm going to try to post some short, public domain works once a week or so.

Why not start with Browning? He's one of the very best, after all. There isn't much that I want to say about these two brief poems, except that they are beautiful, and that the “him” in “Parting at Morning” seems to be the sun. (Both poems can be found at Bartleby.com.)

Meeting at Night
Robert Browning

The gray sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon long and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, a quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Parting at Morning
Robert Browning

Round the cape of a sudden came the sea
And the sun looked over the mountain's rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.