| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Love in a Life | | By Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
| | | ROOM after room, | |
| I hunt the house through | |
| We inhabit together. | |
| Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her, | |
| Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her | 5 |
| Left in the curtain, the couch’s perfume! | |
| As she brush’d it, the cornice-wreath blossom’d anew: | |
| Yon looking-glass gleam’d at the wave of her feather. | |
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| Yet the day wears, | |
| And door succeeds door; | 10 |
| I try the fresh fortune— | |
| Range the wide house from the wing to the centre. | |
| Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter. | |
| Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares? | |
| But ’tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore, | 15 |
| Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune! | | | | |
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