Love Poem

Robert Browning: Meeting at Night

1The gray sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

2Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

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The theme is two lovers are meeting at night. The author is saying that lovers can be driven apart but can never be separated emotionally.
A metaphor that is used: the entire poem is essentially a metaphor of the lengths one goes to to reach that special someone.