Lyric Poem · Love

Epilogue to "Asolando"

by Robert Browning

Reading room

1At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time,

2 When you set your fancies free,

3Will they pass to where — by death, fools think, imprisoned —

4Low he lies who once so loved you whom you loved so,

5 — Pity me?

6Oh to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken!

7 What had I on earth to do

8With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?

9Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel

10 — Being — who?

11One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,

12 Never doubted clouds would break,

13Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph,

14 Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,

15 Sleep to wake.

16No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time

17 Greet the unseen with a cheer!

18Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,

19 "Strive and thrive!" cry "Speed, — fight on, fare ever

20 There as here!"

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“Epilogue to "Asolando"” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/epilogue-to-asolando

Quick facts

Poem: Epilogue to "Asolando"
Poet: Robert Browning
Length: 20 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Dreams & Sleep, Death & Loss

Craft notes

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Shape: 20 lines · 4 quintains

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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: PoetryDBEpilogue to "Asolando" 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 881b66adf4b16ac3…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Dreams & Sleep Death & Loss

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