The Last Ride Together.........

Going by the title....post is not going to be about an incident but a short poem by "Robert Browning" which has been my favorite....and carries such a deep meaning that every time i read it..i start liking it even more...

just to give u a brief about it...the poem is about a rejected lover who as a last wish asked his beloved to have a last ride with him so that he can cherish the ride together.. the poem is a monologue and is narrated by the lover...some of the heart touching lines of the poem, i cant resist pasting here( i dont know if i'm violating any copyright/patent act etc...but i really wanted to share this)

"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
Only a memory of the same,
--And this beside, if you will not blame,
Your leave for one more last ride with me.

Look, how beautifully he spiritualises his love and the generosity with which he accepts the situation....

"Had I said that, had I done this,
So might I gain, so might I miss. . . . . . .
Might she have loved me? just as well
She might have hated, who can tell!
Where had I been now if the worst befell?
And here we are riding, she and I."

Spiritualism at its best, when the lover says most of the times in our live we keep saying "had i done this, i would have...." "had i done that, it would have...." but we never think these IFs and HADs are going to be there forever...instead of dwelling in these thoughts, we should embrace the present as it comes and be thankful that it happened...

"Fail I alone, in words and deeds?
Why, all men strive and who succeeds?"

"Who knows what's fit for us? Had fate . . . . . .
Proposed bliss here should sublimate
My being--had I signed the bond--
Still one must lead some life beyond,
Have a bliss to die with, dim-descried.
This foot once planted on the goal,
This glory-garland round my soul,
Could I descry such? Try and test!
I sink back shuddering from the quest.
Earth being so good, would heaven seem best?
Now, heaven and she are beyond this ride."


"What if we still ride on, we two
With life for ever old yet new,
Changed not in kind but in degree,
The instant made eternity--
And heaven just prove that I and she
Ride, ride together, forever ride?"

in the last ride with his beloved he finds every thing, all the pleasures that had been long expected. And he finds these through the channel of spirit, based on deep philosophy. The narrator rather a great philosopher, eternises his platonic kind of love and makes the riding a lifetime experience.

Spiritual love to eternise time comes foremost in this literary art. The lover eternises the moment of riding which is very short in duration. Here he loves the moment , the partial time and finds heaven in it; the thing is to note here, that the small time has taken the place of a time of very big duration, meaning his life time. Thus the narrator measures time not in quantity but in importance,pleasure of that moment and proves 'Time is the chrysalis of eternity' (Richter)

"Look at the end of work, contrast
The petty done, the undone vast,"

Life defined in above two lines...at the end of life, when you look back...you will find that even after best of your efforts put in...the things you could do/make impact on are very less and the undone stands tall......

When i start concluding this post..i find i have done almost an analysis of the poem...but believe me this is one of the simplest and most thoughtful piece of English Literature..Browning is a favorite for this...................