Paracelsus / By Robert Browning.

  • Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Paracelsus / By Robert Browning. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Whether it be that all love renders wise In its degree ; from love which blends with love— Heart answering heart—to that which spends itself In silent mad idolatry of some Pre-eminent mortal-—some great soul of souls-— Which ne’er will know how well it is adored : I say, such love is never blind; but rather Alive to every the minutest spot That mars its object, and which hate (supposed So vigilant and searching) dreams not of: Love broods on such : what then ? In the first case Is there no sweet strife to forget, to change. To overflush those blemishes with all The glow of goodness they cannot disturb P To make those very defects an endless source Of new affection grown from hopes and fears P And in the last, is there no gallant stand Made even for much proved weak ? no shrinking-back Lest (since all love assimilates the soul To what it loves) it should at length become Almost a rival of its idol ? Trust me, If there be fiends who seek to work our hurt.