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. 26. I lived with visions for my company
2. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 35. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
3. The Soul's Expression
4. Lord Walter's Wife
5. A Thought for a Lonely Death-Bed

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