Poem by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning

The Seraph and Poet

THE seraph sings before the manifest
God-One, and in the burning of the Seven,
And with the full life of consummate
Heaving beneath him like a mother's
Warm with her first-born's slumber in that
The poet sings upon the earth grave-riven,
Before the naughty world, soon self-forgiven
For wronging him,--and in the darkness prest
From his own soul by worldly weights.
Even so,
Sing, seraph with the glory! heaven is high;
Sing, poet with the sorrow! earth is low:
The universe's inward voices cry
' Amen ' to either song of joy and woe:
Sing, seraph,--poet,--sing on equally! 

1. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 30. I see thine image through my tears to-night
2. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 20. Belovëd, my Belovëd, when I think
3. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 12. Indeed this very love which is my boast
4. To Flush, My Dog
5. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 11. And therefore if to love can be desert

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