152. EBB to Henrietta Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 150.
My beloved Sister, <my own dea>rest Henrietta
On her birthday.
Hope End. March 6th 1822. [1]
Oh! once again, my trembling hand shall wake
The breathing sweetness of the magic lay—
Bid the o’erhanging shadows gently break,
And, radiant, brighten to a gladder day!
What though the fleeting hand of Suff’ring may
Still snatch a smile from Joy, and prompt a sigh—
Yet Hope be it thine, in mimic guise, t’array
The rugged form of stern Reality,
And calm, with laughing brow, the terrors of her eye!
What tho’ perhaps, my Sister, it may be,
This hand shall falter o’er the untuned wire,
And the loved chords of sweetest minstrelsy
Shall breathe faint notes of intersepted fire!
What tho’ the music of the sighing lyre
Be mute, or dead. Yet, Addles, faithfully,
Affection lingers while those strains expire,—
Gleams oer the broken string, and, “fancy free,” [2]
Smiles softly the fond smile of tenderness on thee!
<…>rian attached
Ba
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: University of Durham.
1. EBB dated this letter two days after Henrietta’s actual 13th birthday, 4 March. Henrietta, in turn, dated her birthday verse two days after EBB’s, 6 March. EBB was in Gloucester when this birthday greeting was sent; the heading refers to Henrietta’s own location, Hope End. EBB’s fair copy of this birthday ode, at ABL (Reconstruction, D553), bears a sub-title: “Written on the prospect of recovering from a dangerous illness.”
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, II, 1, 164.
___________________
