The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti A variorum edition: Edited, with textual notes and introductions, by R. W. Crump |
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 | The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti |  |
SHUT OUT.
The door was shut. I looked between
Its iron bars; and saw it lie,
My garden, mine, beneath the sky,
Pied with all flowers bedewed and green:
Its iron bars; and saw it lie,
My garden, mine, beneath the sky,
Pied with all flowers bedewed and green:
From bough to bough the song-birds crossed,
From flower to flower the moths and bees;
With all its nests and stately trees
It had been mine, and it was lost.
From flower to flower the moths and bees;
With all its nests and stately trees
It had been mine, and it was lost.
A shadowless spirit kept the gate,
Blank and unchanging like the grave.
I peering thro' said: “Let me have
Some buds to cheer my outcast state.”
Blank and unchanging like the grave.
I peering thro' said: “Let me have
Some buds to cheer my outcast state.”
He answered not. “Or give me, then,
But one small twig from shrub or tree;
And bid my home remember me
Until I come to it again.”
But one small twig from shrub or tree;
And bid my home remember me
Until I come to it again.”
The spirit was silent; but he took
Mortar and stone to build a wall;
He left no loophole great or small
Thro' which my straining eyes might look:
Mortar and stone to build a wall;
He left no loophole great or small
Thro' which my straining eyes might look:
57
So now I sit here quite alone
Blinded with tears; nor grieve for that,
For nought is left worth looking at
Since my delightful land is gone.
Blinded with tears; nor grieve for that,
For nought is left worth looking at
Since my delightful land is gone.
A violet bed is budding near,
Wherein a lark has made her nest:
And good they are, but not the best;
And dear they are, but not so dear.
Wherein a lark has made her nest:
And good they are, but not the best;
And dear they are, but not so dear.
| The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti | |