[
  {
    "title": "Mesmerism",
    "author": "Robert Browning",
    "lines": [
      "All I believed is true!",
      "        I am able yet",
      "        All I want, to get",
      "By a method as strange as new:",
      "Dare I trust the same to you?",
      "",
      "If at night, when doors are shut,",
      "        And the wood-worm picks,",
      "        And the death-watch ticks,",
      "And the bar has a flag of smut,",
      "And a cat's in the water-butt--",
      "",
      "And the socket floats and flares,",
      "        And the house-beams groan,",
      "        And a foot unknown",
      "Is surmised on the garret-stairs,",
      "And the locks slip unawares--",
      "",
      "And the spider, to serve his ends,",
      "        By a sudden thread,",
      "        Arms and legs outspread,",
      "On the table's midst descends,",
      "Comes to find, God knows what friends!--",
      "",
      "If since eve drew in, I say,",
      "        I have sat and brought",
      "        (So to speak) my thought",
      "To bear on the woman away,",
      "Till I felt my hair turn grey--",
      "",
      "Till I seemed to have and hold,",
      "        In the vacancy",
      "        'Twixt the wall and me,",
      "From the hair-plait's chestnut gold",
      "To the foot in its muslin fold--",
      "",
      "Have and hold, then and there,",
      "        Her, from head to foot",
      "        Breathing and mute,",
      "Passive and yet aware,",
      "In the grasp of my steady stare--",
      "",
      "Hold and have, there and then,",
      "        All her body and soul",
      "        That completes my whole,",
      "All that women add to men,",
      "In the clutch of my steady ken--",
      "",
      "Having and holding, till",
      "        I imprint her fast",
      "        On the void at last",
      "As the sun does whom he will",
      "By the calotypist's skill--",
      "",
      "Then,--if my heart's strength serve,",
      "        And through all and each",
      "        Of the veils I reach",
      "To her soul and never swerve,",
      "Knitting an iron nerve--",
      "",
      "Command her soul to advance",
      "        And inform the shape",
      "        Which has made escape",
      "And before my countenance",
      "Answers me glance for glance--",
      "",
      "I, still with a gesture fit",
      "        Of my hands that best",
      "        Do my soul's behest,",
      "Pointing the power from it,",
      "While myself do steadfast sit--",
      "",
      "Steadfast and still the same",
      "        On my object bent,",
      "        While the hands give vent",
      "To my ardour and my aim",
      "And break into very flame--",
      "",
      "Then I reach, I must believe,",
      "        Not her soul in vain,",
      "        For to me again",
      "It reaches, and past retrieve",
      "Is wound in the toils I weave;",
      "",
      "And must follow as I require,",
      "        As befits a thrall,",
      "        Bringing flesh and all,",
      "Essence and earth-attire",
      "To the source of the tractile fire:",
      "",
      "Till the house called hers, not mine,",
      "        With a growing weight",
      "        Seems to suffocate",
      "If she break not its leaden line",
      "And escape from its close confine.",
      "",
      "Out of doors into the night!",
      "        On to the maze",
      "        Of the wild wood-ways,",
      "Not turning to left nor right",
      "From the pathway, blind with sight--",
      "",
      "Making thro' rain and wind",
      "        O'er the broken shrubs,",
      "        'Twixt the stems and stubs,",
      "With a still, composed, strong mind,",
      "Nor a care for the world behind--",
      "",
      "Swifter and still more swift,",
      "        As the crowding peace",
      "        Doth to joy increase",
      "In the wide blind eyes uplift",
      "Thro' the darkness and the drift!",
      "",
      "While I--to the shape, I too",
      "        Feel my soul dilate",
      "        Nor a whit abate,",
      "And relax not a gesture due,",
      "As I see my belief come true.",
      "",
      "For, there! have I drawn or no",
      "        Life to that lip?",
      "        Do my fingers dip",
      "In a flame which again they throw",
      "On the cheek that breaks a-glow?",
      "",
      "Ha! was the hair so first?",
      "        What, unfilleted,",
      "        Made alive, and spread",
      "Through the void with a rich outburst,",
      "Chestnut gold-interspersed?",
      "",
      "Like the doors of a casket-shrine,",
      "        See, on either side,",
      "        Her two arms divide",
      "Till the heart betwixt makes sign,",
      "Take me, for I am thine!",
      "",
      "\"Now--now\"--the door is heard!",
      "        Hark, the stairs! and near--",
      "        Nearer--and here--",
      "\"Now!\" and at call the third",
      "She enters without a word.",
      "",
      "On doth she march and on",
      "        To the fancied shape;",
      "        It is, past escape,",
      "Herself, now: the dream is done",
      "And the shadow and she are one.",
      "",
      "First I will pray. Do Thou",
      "        That ownest the soul,",
      "        Yet wilt grant control",
      "To another, nor disallow",
      "For a time, restrain me now!",
      "",
      "I admonish me while I may,",
      "        Not to squander guilt,",
      "        Since require Thou wilt",
      "At my hand its price one day!",
      "What the price is, who can say?"
    ],
    "linecount": "135"
  }
]