The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti :: :: 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)

VOLUME I

I Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862)

GOBLIN MARKET.

IN THE ROUND TOWER AT JHANSI, JUNE 8, 1857.

THE LAMBS OF GRASMERE, 1860.

THE HOUR AND THE GHOST.

“NO, THANK YOU, JOHN.”

THE FIRST SPRING DAY.

THE CONVENT THRESHOLD.

UP-HILL.

“THE LOVE OF CHRIST WHICH PASSETH KNOWLEDGE.”

“A BRUISED REED SHALL HE NOT BREAK.”

A BETTER RESURRECTION.

ADVENT.

THE THREE ENEMIES.

ONE CERTAINTY.

CHRISTIAN AND JEW. A DIALOGUE.

SWEET DEATH.

SYMBOLS.

“CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.”

OLD AND NEW YEAR DITTIES.

AMEN.

II.

II The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1866)

THE PRINCE'S PROGRESS.

SONGS IN A CORNFIELD.

THE GHOST'S PETITION.

CHILD'S TALK IN APRIL.

GONE FOR EVER.

“THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN”

DESPISED AND REJECTED.

AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT.

GOOD FRIDAY.

THE LOWEST PLACE.

III.

III Poems Added in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1875)

BY THE SEA.

FROM SUNSET TO STAR RISE.

DAYS OF VANITY.

ONCE FOR ALL. (MARGARET.)

ENRICA, 1865.

AUTUMN VIOLETS.

A DIRGE.

“THEY DESIRE A BETTER COUNTRY.”

VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS.

THE GERMAN-FRENCH CAMPAIGN. 1870–1871.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

CONSIDER.

BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON. B.C. 570.

PARADISE.

MOTHER COUNTRY.

“I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS.”

“THE MASTER IS COME, AND CALLETH FOR THEE.”

WHO SHALL DELIVER ME?

“WHEN MY HEART IS VEXED, I WILL COMPLAIN.”

AFTER COMMUNION.

SAINTS AND ANGELS.

A ROSE PLANT IN JERICHO.

II.

VOLUME II

I Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872)

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!”]

[Baby cry—]

[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!]

[Lie a-bed]

II.

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

[Brownie, Brownie, let down your milk]

[Stroke a flint, and there is nothing to admire]

[I am a King]

[Playing at bob cherry]

[Blind from my birth]

III.

III A Pageant and Other Poems (1881)

[Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome]

THE KEY-NOTE.

THE MONTHS: A PAGEANT.

PASTIME.

“ITALIA, IO TI SALUTO!”

MIRRORS OF LIFE AND DEATH.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

“LUSCIOUS AND SORROWFUL.”

“HOLLOW-SOUNDING AND MYSTERIOUS.”

“ONE FOOT ON SEA, AND ONE ON SHORE.”

PASSING AND GLASSING.

“I WILL ARISE.”

A PRODIGAL SON.

SOEUR LOUISE DE LA MISÉRICORDE. (1674.)

AN “IMMURATA” SISTER.

[poem]

THE THREAD OF LIFE.

AN OLD-WORLD THICKET.

“ALL THY WORKS PRAISE THEE, O LORD.” A PROCESSIONAL OF CREATION.

LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS.

“FOR THINE OWN SAKE, O MY GOD.”

UNTIL THE DAY BREAK.

“OF HIM THAT WAS READY TO PERISH.”

“BEHOLD THE MAN!”

THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.

“LOVE IS STRONG AS DEATH.”

IV.

IV Poems Added in Poems (1888)

BIRCHINGTON CHURCHYARD.

ONE SEA-SIDE GRAVE.

BROTHER BRUIN.

“A HELPMEET FOR HIM.”

“THERE IS A BUDDING MORROW IN MIDNIGHT.”

EXULTATE DEO.

A HOPE CAROL.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

A CANDLEMAS DIALOGUE.

MARY MAGDALENE AND THE OTHER MARY. A SONG FOR ALL MARIES.

PATIENCE OF HOPE.

V Verses (1893)

“OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I CALLED UNTO THEE, O LORD.”

[Alone Lord God, in Whom our trust and peace]

[Seven vials hold Thy wrath: but what can hold]

“Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt.”

“As the sparks fly upwards.”

[Lord, make us all love all: that when we meet]

[O lord, I am ashamed to seek Thy Face]

[It is not death, O Christ, to die for Thee]

[Lord, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear]

“Cried out with Tears.”

[O Lord, on Whom we gaze and dare not gaze]

“I will come and heal him.”

[Ah Lord, Lord, if my heart were right with Thine]

“The gold of that land is good.”

[Weigh all my faults and follies righteously]

[Lord, grant me grace to love Thee in my pain]

[Lord, make me one with Thine own faithful ones]

“Light of Light.”

CHRIST OUR ALL IN ALL.

“The ransomed of the Lord.”

[Lord, we are rivers running to Thy sea]

“An exceeding bitter cry.”

[O Lord, when Thou didst call me, didst Thou know]

“Thou, God, seest me.”

[Lord Jesus, who would think that I am Thine?]

“The Name of Jesus.”

Song.

[Lord, carry me.—Nay, but I grant thee strength]

[Lord, I am here.—But, child, I look for thee]

[New creatures; the Creator still the Same]

“King of kings and Lord of lords.”

[Thy Name, O Christ, as incense streaming forth]

“The Good Shepherd.”

“Rejoice with Me.”

[Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?]

[Me and my gift: kind Lord, behold]

“He cannot deny Himself.”

“Slain from the foundation of the world.”

[Lord Jesu, Thou art sweetness to my soul]

[I, Lord, Thy foolish sinner low and small]

“Because He first loved us.”

[Lord, hast Thou so loved us, and will not we]

[As the dove which found no rest]

“Thou art Fairer than the children of men.”

“As the Apple Tree among the trees of the wood.”

[None other Lamb, none other Name]

“Thy Friend and thy Father's Friend forget not.”

“Surely He hath borne our griefs.”

“They toil not, neither do they spin.”

[Darkness and light are both alike to Thee]

“And now why tarriest thou?”

[Have I not striven, my God, and watched and prayed?]

“God is our Hope and Strength.”

[Day and night the Accuser makes no pause]

[O mine enemy]

[Lord, dost Thou look on me, and will not I]

“Peace I leave with you.”

[O Christ our All in each, our All in all!]

[Because Thy Love hath sought me]

[Thy fainting spouse, yet still Thy spouse]

“Like as the hart desireth the water brooks.”

“That where I am, there ye may be also.”

“Judge not according to the appearance.”

[My God, wilt Thou accept, and will not we]

[A chill blank world. Yet over the utmost sea]

“The Chiefest among ten thousand.”

SOME FEASTS AND FASTS.

ADVENT SUNDAY.

ADVENT

[Sooner or later: yet at last]

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

HOLY INNOCENTS.

[Unspotted lambs to follow the one Lamb]

[That Eden of earth's sunrise cannot vie]

QUINQUAGESIMA.

[Piteous my rhyme is]

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK.

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK.

“A bundle of myrrh is my Well-beloved unto me.”

EASTER EVEN.

Our Church Palms are budding willow twigs.

CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

[In weariness and painfulness St. Paul]

VIGIL OF THE PRESENTATION.

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION.

THE PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN.

VIGIL OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

[Herself a rose, who bore the Rose]

[St. Peter once: “Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?”—]

[I followed Thee, my God, I followed Thee]

VIGIL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS.

VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS.

ALL SAINTS.

ALL SAINTS: MARTYRS.

“I gave a sweet smell.”

[Hark! the Alleluias of the great salvation]

A SONG FOR THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS.

SUNDAY BEFORE ADVENT.

GIFTS AND GRACES.

[Love loveth Thee, and wisdom loveth Thee]

[Lord, give me love that I may love Thee much]

“As a king, . . . . unto the King.”

[O ye who love today]

[Life that was born today]

“Perfect Love casteth out Fear.”

[Hope is the counterpoise of fear]

“Subject to like Passions as we are.”

[Experience bows a sweet contented face]

“Charity never Faileth.”

“The Greatest of these is Charity.”

[All beneath the sun hasteth]

[If thou be dead, forgive and thou shalt live]

“Let Patience have her perfect work.”

[Patience must dwell with Love, for Love and Sorrow]

“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”

[What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love still.]

[Lord, make me pure]

[Love, to be love, must walk Thy way]

[Lord, I am feeble and of mean account]

[Tune me, O Lord, into one harmony]

“They shall be as white as snow.”

[Thy lilies drink the dew]

“When I was in trouble I called upon the Lord.”

[Grant us such grace that we may work Thy Will]

“Who hath despised the day of small things?”

“Do this, and he doeth it.”

“That no man take thy Crown.”

“Ye are come unto Mount Sion.”

“Sit down in the lowest room.”

“Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

[Lord, grant us grace to rest upon Thy word]

THE WORLD. SELF-DESTRUCTION.

“A vain Shadow.”

“Lord, save us, we perish.”

[What is this above thy head]

Babylon the Great.

“Standing afar off for the fear of her torment.”

“O Lucifer, Son of the Morning!”

[Alas, alas! for the self-destroyed]

[As froth on the face of the deep]

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

[Toll, bell, toll. For hope is flying]

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]

“They put their trust in Thee, and were not confounded.”

II.

[Short is time, and only time is bleak]

For Each.

For All.

NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CITIZENS.

“The Holy City, New Jerusalem.”

[When wickedness is broken as a tree]

[Jerusalem of fire]

“She shall be brought unto the King.”

[Who is this that cometh up not alone]

[Who sits with the King in His Throne? Not a slave but a Bride]

Antipas.

“Beautiful for situation.”

[Lord, by what inconceivable dim road]

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”

[Cast down but not destroyed, chastened not slain]

[Lift up thine eyes to seek the invisible]

“Love is strong as Death.”

“Let them rejoice in their beds.”

[Slain in their high places: fallen on rest]

“What hath God wrought!”

“Before the Throne, and before the Lamb.”

“He shall go no more out.”

[Yea, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection!]

[The joy of Saints, like incense turned to fire]

[What are these lovely ones, yea, what are these?]

“The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn.”

“Every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”

[“As dying, and behold we live!”]

“So great a cloud of Witnesses.”

[Our Mothers, lovely women pitiful]

[Safe where I cannot lie yet]

“Is it well with the child?”

[Dear Angels and dear disembodied Saints]

“To every seed his own body.”

“What good shall my life do me?”

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]

III.

VOLUME III

I Separately Published Poems

DEATH'S CHILL BETWEEN.

HEART'S CHILL BETWEEN.

The Trees' Counselling.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

[Gianni my friend and I both strove to excel]

The Offering of the New Law, the One Oblation once Offered.

Paradise: in a Symbol.

[In July]

[Love hath a name of Death]

[Alas my Lord]

AN ALPHABET.

Husband and Wife.

MICHAEL F. M. ROSSETTI.

A SICK CHILD'S MEDITATION

[Love is all happiness, love is all beauty]

[A handy Mole who plied no shovel]

“One swallow does not make a summer.”

[Contemptuous of his home beyond]

A Word for the Dumb.

CARDINAL NEWMAN.

An Echo from Willowwood.

“YEA, I HAVE A GOODLY HERITAGE.”

A Death of a First-born.

“FAINT, YET PURSUING.”

[What will it be, O my soul, what will it be]

[Lord, Thou art fulness, I am emptiness]

[O Lord, I cannot plead my love of Thee]

[Faith and Hope are wings to Love]

A SORROWFUL SIGH OF A PRISONER.

[“I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow”—]

[Passing away the bliss]

[Love builds a nest on earth and waits for rest]

[Jesus alone:—if thus it were to me]

The Way of the World.

BOOKS IN THE RUNNING BROOKS.

GONE BEFORE

II.

II Privately Printed Poems

THE DEAD CITY.

The Water Spirit's Song.

The Song of the Star.

ON THE DEATH OF A CAT,

Divine and Human Pleading.

TO MY FRIEND ELIZABETH.

WILL THESE HANDS NE'ER BE CLEAN?

The Dying Man to his Betrothed.

[Soul rudderless, unbraced]

III.

III Unpublished Poems

Heaven.

Hymn.

Corydon's Lament and Resolution.

Rosalind.

The Faithless Shepherdess.

Ariadne to Theseus.

On Albina.

A Hymn for Christmas Day.

The Last Words of St. Telemachus.

Lord Thomas and fair Margaret.

Lines to my Grandfather.

“I have fought a good fight.”

“Young men aye were fickle found Since summer trees were leafy.”

The Lotus-Eaters: Ulysses to Penelope.

Sonnet from the Psalms.

Song.

A Counsel.

The World's Harmonies.

Lines given with a Penwiper.

The last Answer.

One of the Dead.

“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”

“I do set My bow in the cloud.”

“O Death where is thy Sting?”

Undine.

Lady Montrevor.

Floral Teaching.

“Death is swallowed up in Victory.”

“Sleep, sleep, happy child; “All creation slept and smiled.” Blake.

What Sappho would have said had her leap cured instead of killing her.

On Keats.

Have Patience.

To Lalla, reading my verses topsy-turvy.

Sonnet.

The last Complaint.

Have you forgotten?

A Christmas Carol, (on the stroke of Midnight.)

Two thoughts of Death.

“A fair World tho' a fallen.”—

Advent.

All Saints.

“Eye hath not seen.”

St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Moonshine.

“The Summer is ended.”

“I look for the Lord.”

Song.

A Discovery.

From the Antique.

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness.”

“To what purpose is this waste?”

Next of Kin.

“Let them rejoice in their beds.”

“There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.”

Annie.

Seasons.

[Thou sleepest where the lilies fade]

[I wish I were a little bird]

(Two parted.)

[All night I dream you love me well]

(For Rosaline's Album.)

“Who have a form of godliness.”

Ballad.

A Study. (A Soul.)

“There remaineth therefore a rest.”

“Ye have forgotten the exhortation.”

“I have a message unto thee.”

“Let patience have her perfect work.”

A Martyr.

In the Lane.

Acme.

A bed of Forget-me-nots.

The Chiefest among ten thousand.

“Look on this picture and on this.”

“Now they desire.”

A Christmas Carol, for my Godchildren.

“Not yours but you.”

An Answer.

Sir Winter.

In an Artist's Studio.

Introspective.

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness.”

“Yet a little while”.

“Only believe.”

“Rivals.” A Shadow of Saint Dorothea.

A Yawn.

For H. P.

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.”

“What good shall my life do me?”

The Massacre of Perugia.

[I have done with hope]

Promises like Piecrust.

By the waters of Babylon.

For a Mercy received.

[Yes, I too could face death and never shrink]

[Would that I were a turnip white]

[I fancy the good fairies dressed in white]

[Some ladies dress in muslin full and white]

Autumn.

By way of Remembrance.

[Remember, if I claim too much of you]

[Will you be there? my yearning heart has cried]

[In resurrection is it awfuller]

[I love you and you know it—this at least]

Valentines from C.G.R.

[Fairer than younger beauties, more beloved]

St. Valentine's Day 1881.

A Valentine 1882.

February 14. 1883.

1884.

1885. St. Valentine's Day.

1886 St. Valentine's Day.

[Ah welladay and wherefore am I here?]

[Along the highroad the way is too long]

[And is this August weather? nay not so]

[From early dawn until the flush of noon]

[I seek among the living & I seek]

[O glorious sea that in each climbing wave]

[Oh thou who tell'st me that all hope is over]

[Surely there is an aching void within]

[The spring is come again not as at first]

[Who shall my wandering thoughts steady & fix]

[You who look on passed ages as a glass]

The Succession of Kings.

A true Story.

[The two Rossettis (brothers they)]

Imitated from the Arpa Evangelica: Page 121.

[Mr. and Mrs. Scott, and I]

[Gone to his rest]

[I said “All's over”—& I made my]

[I said good bye in hope]

My Mouse.

[Had Fortune parted us]

Counterblast on Penny Trumpet.

[A roundel seems to fit a round of days]

[Heaven overarches earth and sea]

[Sleeping at last, the trouble & tumult over]

4th May morning.

THE CHINAMAN.

[‘Come cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer!’]

THE PLAGUE

[How many authors are my first!]

[Me you often meet]

[So I began my walk of life; no stop]

[So I grew half delirious and quite sick]

[On the note you do not send me]

CHARON

FROM METASTASIO

GOLDEN HOLLY

[I toiled on, but thou]

COR MIO

[My old admiration before I was twenty,—]

TO MARY ROSSETTI

TO MY FIOR-DI-LISA

[Hail, noble face of noble friend!—]

Hymn

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

Husband and Wife.

“Oh kiss me once before I go,
“To make amends for sorrow;
“Oh kiss me once before we part
“Who shall not meet tomorrow.

“And I was wrong to urge your will,
“And wrong to mar your life;
“But kiss me once before we part,
“Because you are my wife.”

She turned her head and tossed her head
And puckered up her brow:
“I never kissed you yet,” said she,
“And I'll not kiss you now.

“Tho' I'm your wife by might and right
“And forsworn marriage vow,
“I never loved you yet,” said she,
“And I don't love you now.”

So he went sailing on the sea,
And she sat crossed and dumb
While he went sailing on the sea
Where the storm winds come.

He'd been away a month and day
Counting from morn to morn:

And many buds had turned to leaves
And many lambs were born

And many buds had turned to flowers
For Spring was in a glow,
When she was laid upon her bed
As white and cold as snow.

“Oh let me kiss my baby once,
“Once before I die;
“And bring it sometimes to my grave
“To teach it where I lie.

“And tell my husband when he comes
“Safe home from sea,
“To love the baby that I leave
“If ever he loved me:

“And tell him, not for might or right
“Or forsworn marriage vow
“But for the helpless baby's sake,
“I would have kissed him now.”