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The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti

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

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Sonnet.

[Some say that love and joy are one: and so]

Some say that love and joy are one: and so
They are indeed in heaven, but not on earth.
Our hearts are made too narrow for the girth
Of love, which is infinity; below
The portion we can compass may bring woe;
Of this the Church bears witness from her birth:
And though a throne in heaven be more than worth
Tears, it is pain that makes them overflow.
Think of the utter grief that fell on them
Who knew that they should see his face no more,
When, strong in faith and love, he went before,
Bound in the spirit, to Jerusalem,
And yet the bitter parting scarcely bore,
Though burning for a martyr's diadem.