Robert Browning. 1812-1889
715. Song from 'Paracelsus'
1 min to read
96 words

HEAP cassia, sandal-buds and stripes   Of labdanum, and aloe-balls, Smear'd with dull nard an Indian wipes   From out her hair: such balsam falls   Down sea-side mountain pedestals, From tree-tops where tired winds are fain, Spent with the vast and howling main, To treasure half their island-gain.

And strew faint sweetness from some old   Egyptian's fine worm-eaten shroud Which breaks to dust when once unroll'd;   Or shredded perfume, like a cloud   From closet long to quiet vow'd, With moth'd and dropping arras hung, Mouldering her lute and books among, As when a queen, long dead, was young.

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Robert Browning. 1812-1889
716. The Wanderers
1 min to read
489 words
Return to Hemingway's List for a Young Writer (1934)






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