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

[Roses on a brier]

Roses on a brier,
Pearls from out the bitter sea,
Such is earth's desire
However pure it be.
270

Neither bud nor brier,
Neither pearl nor brine for me:
Be stilled, my long desire;
There shall be no more sea.
Be stilled, my passionate heart;
Old earth shall end, new earth shall be:
Be still, and earn thy part
Where shall be no more sea.
previous section The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti
next section