Lyric Poem · Nature
Natural Magic
1All I can say is — I saw it!
2The room was as bare as your hand.
3I locked in the swarth little lady, — I swear,
4From the head to the foot of her — well, quite as bare!
5"No Nautch shall cheat me," said I, "taking my stand
6At this bolt which I draw!" And this bolt — I withdraw it,
7And there laughs the lady, not bare, but embowered
8With — who knows what verdure, o'erfruited, o'erflowered?
9Impossible! Only — I saw it!
10All I can sing is — I feel it!
11This life was as blank as that room;
12I let you pass in here. Precaution, indeed?
13Walls, ceiling, and floor, — not a chance for a weed!
14Wide opens the entrance: where's cold, now, where's gloom?
15No May to sow seed here, no June to reveal it,
16Behold you enshrined in these blooms of your bringing,
17These fruits of your bearing — nay, birds of your winging!
18A fairy-tale! Only — I feel it!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Natural Magic” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/natural-magic
Quick facts
- Poem
- Natural Magic
- Poet
- Robert Browning
- Length
- 18 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Summer
Craft notes
How this poem works
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
- 18 lines · 2 stanzas of 9 lines
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Browning1812–1889
- Source record
- PoetryDBNatural Magic 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 89c6d2bd8ae1522c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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