X

With no mind to eat it, that's the worst!
Were it thrown in the road, would the case assist?
'Twas quenching a dozen blue-flies' thirst
When I gave its stalk a twist. 40

XI

And I,--what I seem to my friend, you see:
What I soon shall seem to his love, you guess:
What I seem to myself, do you ask of me?
No hero, I confess.

XII

'Tis an awkward thing to play with souls,
And matter enough to save one's own:
Yet think of my friend, and the burning coals
He played with for bits of stone!

XIII

One likes to show the truth for the truth;
That the woman was light is very true: 50
But suppose she says,--Never mind that youth!
What wrong have I done to you?

XIV

Well, any how, here the story stays,
So far at least as I understand;
And, Robert Browning, you writer of plays,
Here's a subject made to your hand!

NOTES:
"A Light Woman" is the story of a dramatic situation brought
about by the speaker's intermeddling to save his less
sophisticated friend from a light woman's toils. He
deflects her interest and wins her heart, and this is the
ironical outcome: his friendly, dispassionate act makes him
seem to his friend a disloyal passion's slave; his scorn of
the light woman teaches him her genuineness, and proves
himself lighter than she; his futile assumption of the god
manoeuvring souls makes the whole story dramatically imply,
in a way dear to Browning's heart, the sacredness and worth
of each individuality.

[I cannot agree with Porter and Clarke's estimate of the
speaker's act as "friendly, dispassionate." They fail to
take into account his supercilious attitude toward the man
he calls his friend, and he proves to be more self-serving--
and more self-deceiving--than they are willing to admit.
That is why it is a subject made to Browning's hand.--
[Transcriber of the PG text]

THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER

I

I said--Then, dearest, since 'tis so,
Since now at length my fate I know,
Since nothing all my love avails,
Since all, my life seemed meant for, fails,
Since this was written and needs must be--
My whole heart rises up to bless
Your name in pride and thankfulness!
Take back the hope you gave--I claim