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Robert Browning: Poems

Summum Bonum


All the breath and the bloom of the year in the bag of one bee:

All the wonder and wealth of the mine in the heart of one gem:

In the core of one pearl all the shade and the shine of the sea:

Breath and bloom, shade and shine,--wonder, wealth, and--how far above them--

Truth, that's brighter than gem,

Trust, that's purer than pearl,--

Brightest truth, purest trust in the universe,--all were for me

In the kiss of one girl.

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