Lyric Poem · Love

A Woman's Last Word

by Robert Browning

Reading room

1Let's contend no more, Love,

2 Strive nor weep:

3All be as before, Love,

4 — Only sleep!

5What so wild as words are?

6 I and thou

7In debate, as birds are,

8 Hawk on bough!

9See the creature stalking

10 While we speak!

11Hush and hide the talking,

12 Cheek on cheek.

13What so false as truth is,

14 False to thee?

15Where the serpent's tooth is,

16 Shun the tree —

17Where the apple reddens,

18 Never pry —

19Lest we lose our Edens,

20 Eve and I.

21Be a god and hold me

22 With a charm!

23Be a man and fold me

24 With thine arm!

25Teach me, only teach, Love!

26 As I ought

27I will speak thy speech, Love,

28 Think thy thought —

29Meet, if thou require it,

30 Both demands,

31Laying flesh and spirit

32 In thy hands.

33That shall be to-morrow,

34 Not to-night:

35I must bury sorrow

36 Out of sight:

37 — Must a little weep, Love,

38 (Foolish me!)

39And so fall asleep, Love,

40 Loved by thee.

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“A Woman's Last Word” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/a-womans-last-word

Quick facts

Poem: A Woman's Last Word
Poet: Robert Browning
Length: 40 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Sad, Nature

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 40 lines · 10 quatrains

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Text, source & rights

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Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Robert Browning1812–1889
Source record: PoetryDBA Woman's Last Word by robert-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 f3490347bbe050ca…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Sad Nature

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