Daily Poetry Readings #19: Two in the Campagna by Robert Browning read by Dr Iain McGilchrist
Part 19 of a daily series of readings of his favourite poetry by Dr Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary. Today's poem is Two in the Campagna by Robert Browning.
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~ Two in the Campagna by Robert Browning ~
I
I wonder do you feel to-day
As I have felt since, hand in hand,
We sat down on the grass, to stray
In spirit better through the land,
This morn of Rome and May?
II
For me, I touched a thought, I know,
Has tantalized me many times,
(Like turns of thread the spiders throw
Mocking across our path) for rhymes
To catch at and let go.
III
Help me to hold it! First it left
The yellowing fennel, run to seed
There, branching from the brickwork's cleft,
Some old tomb's ruin: yonder weed
Took up the floating weft,
IV
Where one small orange cup amassed
Five beetles,-blind and green they grope
Among the honey-meal: and last,
Everywhere on the grassy slope
I traced it. Hold it fast!
V
The champaign with its endless fleece
Of feathery grasses everywhere!
Silence and passion, joy and peace,
An everlasting wash of air-
Rome's ghost since her decease.
VI
Such life here, through such lengths of hours,
Such miracles performed in play,
Such primal naked forms of flowers,
Such letting nature have her way
While heaven looks from its towers!
VII
How say you? Let us, O my dove,
Let us be unashamed of soul,
As earth lies bare to heaven above!
How is it under our control
To love or not to love?
VIII
I would that you were all to me,
You that are just so much, no more.
Nor yours nor mine, nor slave nor free!
Where does the fault lie? What the core
O' the wound, since wound must be?
IX
I would I could adopt your will,
See with your eyes, and set my heart
Beating by yours, and drink my fill
At your soul's springs,-your part my part
In life, for good and ill.
X
No. I yearn upward, touch you close,
Then stand away. I kiss your cheek,
Catch your soul's warmth,-I pluck the rose
And love it more than tongue can speak-
Then the good minute goes.
XI
Already how am I so far
Out of that minute? Must I go
Still like the thistle-ball, no bar,
Onward, whenever light winds blow,
Fixed by no friendly star?
XII
Just when I seemed about to learn!
Where is the thread now? Off again!
The old trick! Only I discern-
Infinite passion, and the pain
Of finite hearts that yearn.
Пікірлер: 1
Since finding the book 'Poem for the Day' (edited by Nicholas Albery, with a foreward by Wendy Cope) in a second-hand book shop toward the end of last year, my wife and I have, alternating, read a poem to each other every day since January 1st. This week my wife is away, so I have been reading and recording the poem and sending it to her. Today's poem is, you guessed it, Two in the Campagna. I have been struggling to get right the metre and intonation, so turned to a search engine and landed here. Thank you. You have hepled immensely and I think I can now make a more valiant attempt at the one take recording. The advantage of the many attempts already made, though, is the increased familiarity. It is indeed a lovely poem and one I shall read again. [EDIT] I have just noted the date that this video was published. Could it be that you were reading from the same book?