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The works of Francis Thompson

Thompson, Francis (1859-1907)

collapse sectionI. 
Volume I.
  
DEDICATION OF POEMS
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POEMS ON CHILDREN
  
DAISY
  
THE POPPY
  
TO MONICA THOUGHT DYING
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THE MAKING OF VIOLA
  
I
  
II
  
III
  
IV
  
V
  
VI
  
VII
  
VIII
  
IX
  
X
  
TO MY GODCHILD Francis M. W. M.
  
TO OLIVIA
  
LITTLE JESUS
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SISTER SONGS AN OFFERING TO TWO SISTERS MONICA & MADELINE (SYLVIA)
  
THE PROEM
 1. 
PART THE FIRST
 2. 
PART THE SECOND
  
INSCRIPTION
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LOVE IN DIAN'S LAP
  
PROEMION
 I. 
I BEFORE HER PORTRAIT IN YOUTH
 II. 
II TO A POET BREAKING SILENCE
 III. 
III “MANUS ANIMAM PINXIT”
 IV. 
IV A CARRIER SONG
 V. 
V SCALA JACOBI PORTAQUE EBURNEA
 VI. 
VI GILDED GOLD
 VII. 
VII HER PORTRAIT
  
EPILOGUE TO THE POET'S SITTER
 VIII. 
VIII DOMUS TUA
 IX. 
IX IN HER PATHS
 X. 
X AFTER HER GOING
 XI. 
XI BENEATH A PHOTOGRAPH
  
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
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ODE TO THE SETTING SUN
  
PRELUDE
  
ODE
  
AFTER-STRAIN
  
TO THE DEAD CARDINAL OF WESTMINSTER
  
A CORYMBUS FOR AUTUMN
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ECCLESIASTICAL BALLADS
 I. 
I THE VETERAN OF HEAVEN
 II. 
II LILIUM REGIS
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TRANSLATIONS
  
A SUNSET
  
HEARD ON THE MOUNTAIN
  
AN ECHO OF VICTOR HUGO
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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
  
DREAM-TRYST
  
ARAB LOVE-SONG
  
BUONA NOTTE
  
THE PASSION OF MARY
  
MESSAGES
  
AT LORD'S
  
LOVE AND THE CHILD
  
DAPHNE
  
ABSENCE
  
TO W. M.
  
A FALLEN YEW
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A JUDGEMENT IN HEAVEN
  
[section]
  
EPILOGUE TO ‘A JUDGEMENT IN HEAVEN’
  
THE SERE OF THE LEAF
  
TO STARS
  
LINES FOR A DRAWING OF OUR LADY OF THE NIGHT
  
ORISON-TRYST
  
‘WHERETO ART THOU COME?’
  
SONG OF THE HOURS
  
PASTORAL
  
PAST THINKING OF SOLOMON
  
A DEAD ASTRONOMER
  
CHEATED ELSIE
  
THE FAIR INCONSTANT
  
THE HOUSE OF SORROWS
  
INSENTIENCE
  
ENVOY
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Volume II
  
DEDICATION OF NEW POEMS (1897)
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SIGHT AND INSIGHT
  
THE MISTRESS OF VISION
  
CONTEMPLATION
  
‘BY REASON OF THY LAW’
  
THE DREAD OF HEIGHT
  
ORIENT ODE
  
NEW YEAR'S CHIMES
  
FROM THE NIGHT OF FOREBEING AN ODE AFTER EASTER
  
ANY SAINT
  
ASSUMPTA MARIA
  
CARMEN GENESIS
  
AD CASTITATEM
  
THE AFTER WOMAN
  
GRACE OF THE WAY
  
RETROSPECT
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A NARROW VESSEL BEING A LITTLE DRAMATIC SEQUENCE ON THE ASPECT OF PRIMITIVE GIRL-NATURE TOWARDS A LOVE BEYOND ITS CAPACITIES
 I. 
A GIRL'S SIN
 II. 
A GIRL'S SIN
  
LOVE DECLARED
  
THE WAY OF A MAID
  
BEGINNING OF END
  
PENELOPE
  
THE END OF IT
  
EPILOGUE
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ULTIMA
  
LOVE'S ALMSMAN PLAINETH HIS FARE
  
A HOLOCAUST
  
MY LADY THE TYRANNESS
  
UNTO THIS LAST
  
ULTIMUM
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AN ANTHEM OF EARTH
  
PROEMION
  
ANTHEM
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MISCELLANEOUS ODES
  
LAUS AMARA DOLORIS
  
A CAPTAIN OF SONG
  
AGAINST URANIA
  
TO THE ENGLISH MARTYRS
  
ODE for the DIAMOND JUBILEE OF QUEEN VICTORIA, 1897
  
The NINETEENTH CENTURY
  
PEACE ON THE TREATY IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 1902
  
CECIL RHODES
  
OF NATURE: LAUD AND PLAINT
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SONNETS
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AD AMICAM
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
 IV. 
IV
 V. 
V
  
TO A CHILD
  
HERMES
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HOUSE OF BONDAGE
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
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THE HEART
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
  
DESIDERIUM INDESIDERATUM
  
LOVE'S VARLETS
  
NON PAX-EXPECTATIO
  
NOT EVEN IN DREAM
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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
  
A HOLLOW WOOD
  
TO DAISIES
  
TO THE SINKING SUN
  
A MAY BURDEN
  
JULY FUGITIVE
  
FIELD-FLOWER
  
TO A SNOWFLAKE
  
A QUESTION
  
THE CLOUD'S SWAN-SONG
  
OF MY FRIEND
  
TO MONICA: AFTER NINE YEARS
  
A DOUBLE NEED
  
GRIEF'S HARMONICS
  
MEMORAT MEMORIA
  
NOCTURN
  
HEAVEN AND HELL
  
‘CHOSE VUE’
  
ST MONICA
  
MARRIAGE IN TWO MOODS
  
ALL FLESH
  
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
  
THE SINGER SAITH OF HIS SONG

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182

DESIDERIUM INDESIDERATUM

O gain that lurk'st ungainèd in all gain!
O love we just fall short of in all love!
O height that in all heights art still above!
O beauty that dost leave all beauty pain!
Thou unpossessed that mak'st possession vain,
See these strained arms which fright the simple air,
And say what ultimate fairness holds thee, Fair!
They girdle Heaven, and girdle Heaven in vain;
They shut, and lo! but shut in their unrest.
Thereat a voice in me that voiceless was:—
‘Whom seekest thou through the unmarged arcane,
And not discern'st to thine own bosom prest?’
I looked. My claspèd arms athwart my breast
Framed the august embraces of the Cross.
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