The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti A variorum edition: Edited, with textual notes and introductions, by R. W. Crump |
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 | I. |
| II. |
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 | The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti |  |
2.
“Era già l'ora che volge il desio.”
—Dante.
—Dante.
“Ricorro al tempo ch'io vi vidi prima.”
—Petrarca.
—Petrarca.
I wish I could remember, that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or Winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand—Did one but know!
| The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti | |