by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)
Plot‑Culture
        Language: English 
        
        
        
        
        Not with my Soul, Love ! bid no Soul like mine 
Lap thee around nor leave the poor Sense room ! 
Soul, travel-worn, toil- weary, would confine 
Along with Soul, Soul's gains from glow and gloom, 
Captures from soarings high and divings deep. 
Spoil-laden Soul, how should such memories sleep ? 
Take Sense, too let me love entire and whole 
    Not with my Soul ! 
Eyes shall meet eyes and find no eyes between, 
Lips feed on lips, no other lips to fear !
No past, no future so thine arms but screen 
The present from surprise ! not there, 'tis here 
Not then, 'tis now: back, memories that intrude ! 
Make, Love, the universe our solitude,
And, over all the rest, oblivion roll
    Sense quenching Soul ! 
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), "Plot-Culture", appears in Ferishtah's Fancies, no. 10, first published 1884 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
 
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
-   by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Plot-Culture", 1903, published 1905 [tenor and orchestra], from  Lyrics from "Ferishtah's Fancies", no. 10. [text not verified]
 
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-26 
Line count: 16
Word count: 120