Oh, it's by Robert Browning (jr., the star of the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie - not!)
You can also take it to the next level and learn it by heart. It's short. You can impress people in the early morning hours. Give them chills, too. But, remember, saying it aloud is the trick.
[Pippa's Song]
The year's at the spring;
The day's at the morn,
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world.
Of course the cynic in me (and, having read some of Browning's other poems, I think the cynic in him, too) points out that it won't and can't last.
And yet, that not-lasting-ness off the moment is what makes it so poignant. (Also, Greek story style, things are only right with the world when the gods butt out of human affairs.)
2 comments:
We have very different readings of that poem.
The last two lines are very familiar to me - a phrase that I've heard throughout my life, with no idea that it even came from a poem at all. Thank you for posting it!
Now you leave me no choice but to get the whole poem/drama and read it.
From the brief skimming I did online, I'm sticking with my reading, only to modify it as follows:
Pippa seems to believe "God's in His heaven/All's right with the world." Browning probably intends Pippa to be overly naive - and yet a symbol of hope.
Now to the actual text. Just give me a few months.
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