University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti

A variorum edition: Edited, with textual notes and introductions, by R. W. Crump
Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830-1894)

expand sectionI. 
VOLUME I
collapse sectionII. 
VOLUME II
expand sectionI. 
I Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872)
expand sectionII. 
II Poems Added in Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (1893)
expand sectionIII. 
III A Pageant and Other Poems (1881)
expand sectionIV. 
IV Poems Added in Poems (1888)
collapse sectionV. 
V Verses (1893)
expand section 
“OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I CALLED UNTO THEE, O LORD.”
expand section 
CHRIST OUR ALL IN ALL.
expand section 
SOME FEASTS AND FASTS.
expand section 
GIFTS AND GRACES.
expand section 
THE WORLD. SELF-DESTRUCTION.
collapse section 
DIVERS WORLDS. TIME AND ETERNITY.
  
[Earth has clear call of daily bells]
  
“Escape to the Mountain.”
  
[I lift mine eyes to see: earth vanisheth.]
  
“Yet a little while.”
  
“Behold, it was very good.”
  
“Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.”
  
[This near-at-hand land breeds pain by measure]
  
“Was Thy Wrath against the Sea?”
  
“And there was no more Sea.”
  
[Roses on a brier]
  
[We are those who tremble at Thy word]
  
“Awake, thou that sleepest.”
  
[We know not when, we know not where]
  
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the Hills.”
  
“Then whose shall those things be?”
  
“His Banner over me was Love.”
  
[Beloved, yield thy time to God, for He]
  
[Time seems not short]
  
[The half moon shows a face of plaintive sweetness]
  
“As the Doves to their windows.”
  
[Oh knell of a passing time]
  
[Time passeth away with its pleasure and pain]
  
“The Earth shall tremble at the Look of Him.”
  
[Time lengthening, in the lengthening seemeth long]
  
“All Flesh is Grass.”
  
[Heaven's chimes are slow, but sure to strike at last]
  
“There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God.”
  
[Parting after parting]
expand section 
“They put their trust in Thee, and were not confounded.”
  
[Short is time, and only time is bleak]
  
For Each.
  
For All.
expand section 
NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CITIZENS.
expand section 
SONGS FOR STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS.
expand sectionIII. 
VOLUME III

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti
next section

VANITY OF VANITIES.

Ah woe is me for pleasure that is vain,
Ah woe is me for glory that is past:
Pleasure that bringeth sorrow at the last,
Glory that at the last bringeth no gain!
So saith the sinking heart; and so again
It shall say till the mighty angel-blast
Is blown, making the sun and moon aghast,
And showering down the stars like sudden rain.
And evermore men shall go fearfully
Bending beneath their weight of heaviness;
And ancient men shall lie down wearily,
And strong men shall rise up in weariness;
Yea, even the young shall answer sighingly,
Saying one to another: How vain it is!
previous section The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti
next section