Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Out of your whole life give but a moment!

I have loved poetry my whole life.  And, since I have loved LOVE my whole life, it is not surprising that I have always loved LOVE poems.  One of my favorite poems is Robert Browning's Now... it reminds me of all the beauty, intensity, and passion that can be found in a single moment (when you are able to be completely present, when your heart is open and your head doesn't get in the way, when even for just that moment you experience the fullness of life...and love).  

NOW
by Robert Browning (1812-1889)

Out of your whole life give but a moment!
All of your life that has gone before,
All to come after it, -- so you ignore,
So you make perfect the present, condense, 
In a rapture of rage, for perfection's endowment,
Thought and feeling and soul and sense,
Merged in a moment which gives me at last
You around me for once, you beneath me, above me --
Me, sure that, despite of time future, time past, 
This tick of life-time's one moment you love me!
How long such suspension may linger? Ah, sweet,
The moment eternal -- just that and no more --
When ecstasy's utmost we clutch at the core, 
While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut, and lips meet!