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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  724. Meeting at Night

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Robert Browning. 1812–1889

724. Meeting at Night

THE gray sea and the long black land; 
And the yellow half-moon large and low; 
And the startled little waves that leap 
In fiery ringlets from their sleep, 
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,         5
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand. 
 
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; 
Three fields to cross till a farm appears; 
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch 
And blue spurt of a lighted match,  10
And a voice less loud, thro’ its joys and fears, 
Than the two hearts beating each to each!