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.
expand section 
DIVERS WORLDS. TIME AND ETERNITY.
expand section 
NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CITIZENS.
collapse section 
SONGS FOR STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS.
  
“Her Seed; It shall bruise thy head.”
  
“Judge nothing before the time.”
  
[How great is little man!]
  
[Man's life is but a working day]
  
[If not with hope of life]
  
“The day is at hand.”
  
“Endure hardness.”
  
“Whither the Tribes go up, even the Tribes of the Lord.”
  
[Where never tempest heaveth]
  
[Marvel of marvels, if I myself shall behold]
  
“What is that to thee? follow thou me.”
  
“Worship God.”
  
“Afterward he repented, and went.”
  
“Are they not all Ministering Spirits?”
  
[Our life is long. Not so, wise Angels say]
  
[Lord, what have I to offer? sickening fear]
  
[Joy is but sorrow]
  
[Can I know it?—Nay.—]
  
“When my heart is vexed I will complain.”
  
“Praying always.”
  
“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
  
[A heavy heart, if ever heart was heavy]
  
[If love is not worth loving, then life is not worth living]
  
[What is it Jesus saith unto the soul?]
  
[They lie at rest, our blessed dead]
  
“Ye that fear Him, both small and great.”
  
“Called to be Saints.”
  
[The sinner's own fault? So it was.]
  
[Who cares for earthly bread tho' white?]
  
[Laughing Life cries at the feast,—]
  
“The end is not yet.”
  
[Who would wish back the Saints upon our rough]
  
“That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is Man.”
  
[Of each sad word which is more sorrowful]
  
“I see that all things come to an end.”
  
“But Thy Commandment is exceeding broad.”
  
Sursam Corda.
  
[O ye, who are not dead and fit]
  
[Where shall I find a white rose blowing?—]
  
“Redeeming the Time.”
  
“Now they desire a Better Country.”
  
A CASTLE-BUILDER'S WORLD.
  
“These all wait upon Thee.”
  
“Doeth well . . . doeth better.”
  
[Our heaven must be within ourselves]
  
“Vanity of Vanities.”
  
[The hills are tipped with sunshine, while I walk]
  
[Scarce tolerable life, which all life long]
  
[All heaven is blazing yet]
  
“Balm in Gilead.”
  
“In the day of his Espousals.”
  
“She came from the uttermost part of the earth.”
  
[Alleluia! or Alas! my heart is crying]
  
[The Passion Flower hath sprung up tall]
  
God's Acre.
  
“The Flowers appear on the Earth.”
  
“Thou knewest . . . thou oughtest therefore.”
  
“Go in Peace.”
  
“Half dead.”
  
“One of the Soldiers with a Spear pierced His Side.”
  
[Where love is, there comes sorrow]
  
[Bury Hope out of sight]
  
A Churchyard Song of Patient Hope.
  
[One woe is past. Come what come will]
  
“Take no thought for the morrow.”
  
“Consider the Lilies of the field.”
  
“Son, remember.”
  
“Heaviness may endure for a night, but Joy cometh in the morning.”
  
“The Will of the Lord be done.”
  
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.”
  
“Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.”
  
“Then shall ye shout.”
  
[Everything that is born must die]
  
[Lord, grant us calm, if calm can set forth Thee]
  
Changing Chimes.
  
“Thy Servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
  
[Thro' burden and heat of the day]
  
“Then I commended Mirth.”
  
[Shadows today, while shadows show God's Will.]
  
“Truly the Light is sweet.”
  
“Are ye not much better than they?”
  
“Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house.”
  
“I am small and of no reputation.”
  
[O Christ my God Who seest the unseen]
  
[Yea, if Thou wilt, Thou canst put up Thy sword]
  
[Sweetness of rest when Thou sheddest rest]
  
[O foolish Soul! to make thy count]
  
[Before the beginning Thou hast foreknown the end]
  
[The goal in sight! Look up and sing]
  
[Looking back along life's trodden way]
expand sectionIII. 
VOLUME III

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti
next section

[If love is not worth loving, then life is not worth living]

If love is not worth loving, then life is not worth living,
Nor aught is worth remembering but well forgot;
For store is not worth storing and gifts are not worth giving,
If love is not;
And idly cold is death-cold, and life-heat idly hot,
And vain is any offering and vainer our receiving,
And vanity of vanities is all our lot.
306

Better than life's heaving heart is death's heart unheaving,
Better than the opening leaves are the leaves that rot,
For there is nothing left worth achieving or retrieving,
If love is not.
previous section The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti
next section