Browning's Shorter Poems: Fears and Scruples

Fears and Scruples

Here�s my case. Of old I used to love him,
    This same unseen friend, before I knew:
Dream there was none like him, none above him,�
    Wake to hope and trust my dream was true.
Loved I not his letters full of beauty?
    Not his actions famous far and wide?
Absent, he would know I vowed him duty;
    Present, he would find me at his side.
Pleasant fancy! for I had but letters,
    Only knew of actions by hearsay:
He himself was busied with my betters;
    What of that? My turn must come some day.
�Some day� proving�no day! Here�s the puzzle.
    Passed and passed my turn is. Why complain?
He�s so busied! If I could but muzzle
    People�s foolish mouths that give me pain!
�Letters?� (hear them!) �You a judge of writing?
    Ask the experts! How they shake the head
O�er these characters, your friend�s inditing�
    Call them forgery from A to Z!
�Actions? Where�s your certain proof� (they bother)
    �He, of all you find so great and good,
He, he only, claims this, that, the other
    Action�claimed by men, a multitude?�
I can simply wish I might refute you,
    Wish my friend would,�by a word, a wink,�
Bid me stop that foolish mouth,�you brute you!
    He keeps absent,�why, I cannot think.
Never mind! Though foolishness may flout me,
    One thing�s sure enough: �tis neither frost,
No, nor fire, shall freeze or burn from out me
    Thanks for truth�though falsehood, gained�though lost.
All my days, I�ll go the softlier, sadlier,
    For that dream�s sake! How forget the thrill
Through and through me as I thought �The gladlier
    Lives my friend because I love him still!�
Ah, but there�s a menace some one utters!
    �What and if your friend at home play tricks
Peep at hide-and-seek behind the shutters?
    Mean your eyes should pierce through solid bricks?
�What and if he, frowning, wake you, dreamy?
    Lay on you the blame that bricks�conceal?
Say �At least I saw who did not see me,
    Does see now, and presently shall feel�?�
�Why, that makes your friend a monster!� say you:
    �Had his house no window? At first nod,
Would you not have hailed him?� Hush, I pray you!
    What if this friend happened to be�God?

Back to chapter list of: Browning's Shorter Poems