Robert Browning

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

All June I bound the rose in sheaves,
Now, rose by rose, I strip the leaves.

All June I bound the rose in sheaves,
Now, rose by rose, I strip the leaves.

But how carve way i' the life that lies before,
If bent on groaning ever for the past?

But how carve way i' the life that lies before,
If bent on groaning ever for the past?

A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer life of one--
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A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer life of one--
And those who live as models for the mass
Are singly of more value than they all.

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?