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University of Virginia Library

The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti

A variorum edition: Edited, with textual notes and introductions, by R. W. Crump

Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830-1894)

I.

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II.

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I.

I Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872)

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RHYMES DEDICATED WITHOUT PERMISSION TO THE BABY WHO SUGGESTED THEM

[Angels at the foot]

[Love me,—I love you]

[My baby has a father and a mother]

[Our little baby fell asleep]

[“Kookoorookoo! kookoorookoo!”]

[Eight o'clock]

[Bread and milk for breakfast]

[There's snow on the fields]

[Dead in the cold, a song-singing thrush]

[I dug and dug amongst the snow]

[A city plum is not a plum]

[Your brother has a falcon]

[Hear what the mournful linnets say]

[A baby's cradle with no baby in it]

[Hop-o'-my-thumb and little Jack Horner]

[Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth]

[O wind, why do you never rest]

[Crying, my little one, footsore and weary?]

[Growing in the vale]

[A linnet in a gilded cage,—]

[Wrens and robins in the hedge]

[My baby has a mottled fist]

[Why did baby die]

[If all were rain and never sun]

[O wind, where have you been]

[On the grassy banks]

[Rushes in a watery place]

[Minnie and Mattie]

[Heartsease in my garden bed]

[If I were a Queen]

[What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow]

[There is but one May in the year]

[The summer nights are short]

[The days are clear]

[Twist me a crown of wind-flowers]

[Brown and furry]

[A toadstool comes up in a night,—]

[A pocket handkerchief to hem—]

[If a pig wore a wig]

[Seldom “can't,”]

[1 and 1 are 2—]

[How many seconds in a minute?]

[What will you give me for my pound?]

[January cold desolate]

[What is pink? a rose is pink]

[Mother shake the cherry-tree]

[A pin has a head, but has no hair]

[Hopping frog, hop here and be seen]

[Where innocent bright-eyed daisies are]

[The city mouse lives in a house;—]

[What does the donkey bray about?]

[Three plum buns]

[A motherless soft lambkin]

[Dancing on the hill-tops]

[When fishes set umbrellas up]

[The peacock has a score of eyes]

[Pussy has a whiskered face]

[The dog lies in his kennel]

[If hope grew on a bush]

[I planted a hand]

[Under the ivy bush]

[There is one that has a head without an eye]

[If a mouse could fly]

[Sing me a song—]

[The lily has an air]

[Margaret has a milking-pail]

[In the meadow—what in the meadow?]

[A frisky lamb]

[Mix a pancake]

[The wind has such a rainy sound]

[Three little children]

[Fly away, fly away over the sea]

[Minnie bakes oaten cakes]

[A white hen sitting]

[Currants on a bush]

[I have but one rose in the world]

[Rosy maiden Winifred]

[When the cows come home the milk is coming]

[Roses blushing red and white]

[“Ding a ding,”]

[A ring upon her finger]

[“Ferry me across the water]

[When a mounting skylark sings]

[Who has seen the wind?]

[The horses of the sea]

[O sailor, come ashore]

[A diamond or a coal?]

[An emerald is as green as grass]

[Boats sail on the rivers]

[The lily has a smooth stalk]

[Hurt no living thing]

[I caught a little ladybird]

[All the bells were ringing]

[Wee wee husband]

[I have a little husband]

[The dear old woman in the lane]

[Swift and sure the swallow]

[“I dreamt I caught a little owl]

[What does the bee do?]

[I have a Poll parrot]

[A house of cards]

[The rose with such a bonny blush]

[The rose that blushes rosy red]

[Oh fair to see]

[Clever little Willie wee]

[The peach tree on the southern wall]

[A rose has thorns as well as honey]

[Is the moon tired? she looks so pale]

[If stars dropped out of heaven]

[“Goodbye in fear, goodbye in sorrow]

[If the sun could tell us half]

[If the moon came from heaven]

[O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the east]

[What do the stars do]

[Motherless baby and babyless mother]

[Crimson curtains round my mother's bed]

[Baby lies so fast asleep]

[I know a baby, such a baby,—]

[Lullaby, oh lullaby!]

II.

II Poems Added in Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (1893)

III.

III A Pageant and Other Poems (1881)

IV.

IV Poems Added in Poems (1888)

V.

V Verses (1893)

III.

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[“Beloved, let us love one another,” says St. John]

“Beloved, let us love one another,” says St. John,
Eagle of eagles calling from above:
Words of strong nourishment for life to feed upon,
“Beloved, let us love.”

Voice of an eagle, yea, Voice of the Dove:
If we may love, winter is past and gone;
Publish we, praise we, for lo! it is enough.

More sunny than sunshine that ever yet shone,
Sweetener of the bitter, smoother of the rough,
Highest lesson of all lessons for all to con,
“Beloved, let us love.”