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Robert Browning
Robert Browning

Now

About this Poem 

“Now” was published in Browning’s book Asolando: Fancies and Facts (Smith, Elder, & Co., 1889).

Now

Out of your whole life give but a moment! 
All of your life that has gone before, 
All to come after it,—so you ignore, 
So you make perfect the present,—condense, 
In a rapture of rage, for perfection’s endowment, 
Thought and feeling and soul and sense—
Merged in a moment which gives me at last 
You around me for once, you beneath me, above me—
Me—sure that despite of time future, time past,—
This tick of our life-time’s one moment you love me! 
How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet—
The moment eternal—just that and no more—
When ecstasy’s utmost we clutch at the core 
While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet! 

This poem is in the public domain.

This poem is in the public domain.

collection

Classic Books of American Poetry

This collection of books showcases the masterpieces of American poetry that have influenced—or promise to influence—generations of poets. Take a look.

collection

A Poet's Glossary

Read about poetic terms and forms from Edward Hirsch's A Poet's Glossary (Harcourt, 2014), a book ten years in the making that defines the art form of poetry.  

American Poets, Fall-Winter 2016
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Mount Rainier National Park
From the Archive: E. E. Cummings's Christmas Card
poem

The Coming of Light

Even this late it happens:
the coming of love, the coming of light. 
You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves, 
stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows, 
sending up warm bouquets of air.
Even this late the bones of the body shine 
and tomorrow's dust flares into breath.
Mark Strand
2002