University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Edited with Preface and Notes by William M. Rossetti: Revised and Enlarged Edition

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand section 
expand section 
collapse section 
expand section 
collapse sectionII. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
expand section 
collapse section 
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
expand section 
  
expand section 
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 

DURING MUSIC

O cool unto the sense of pain
That last night's sleep could not destroy;
O warm unto the sense of joy,
That dreams its life within the brain.
What though I lean o'er thee to scan
The written music cramped and stiff;—
'Tis dark to me, as hieroglyph
On those weird bulks Egyptian.
But as from those, dumb now and strange,
A glory wanders on the earth,
Even so thy tones can call a birth
From these, to shake my soul with change.
O swift, as in melodious haste
Float o'er the keys thy fingers small;
O soft, as is the rise and fall
Which stirs that shade within thy breast.