At Home When I was dead, my spirit turned To seek the much-frequented house: I passed the door, and saw my friends Feasting beneath green orange boughs; From hand to hand they pushed the wine, They sucked the pulp of plum and peach; They sang, they jested, and they laughed, For each was loved of [...]
‘Come,’ Thou dost say to Angels ‘Come,’ Thou dost say to Angels, To blessed Spirits, ‘Come’: ‘Come,’ to the lambs of Thine own flock, Thy little ones, ‘Come home.’ ‘Come,’ from the many-mansioned house The gracious word is sent; ‘Come,’ from the ivory palaces Unto the Penitent. O Lord, restore us deaf and blind, Unclose [...]
A Diamond or a Coal? A diamond or a coal? A diamond, if you please: Who cares about a clumsy coal Beneath the summer trees? A diamond or a coal? A coal, sir, if you please: One comes to care about the coal What time the waters freeze. Christina Rossetti
Remember Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann’d: Only remember me; you [...]
Consider the Lilies of the Field Flowers preach to us if we will hear:– The rose saith in the dewy morn: I am most fair; Yet all my loveliness is born Upon a thorn. The poppy saith amid the corn: Let but my scarlet head appear And I am held in scorn; Yet juice of [...]
A Baby’s Cradle with No Baby in it A baby’s cradle with no baby in it, A baby’s grave where autumn leaves drop sere; The sweet soul gathered home to Paradise, The body waiting here. Christina Rossetti
Rest O Earth, lie heavily upon her eyes; Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth; Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs. She hath no questions, she hath no replies, Hush’d in and curtain’d with a blessèd dearth Of all that irk’d her [...]
Aloof The irresponsive silence of the land, The irresponsive sounding of the sea, Speak both one message of one sense to me:– Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand Thou too aloof, bound with the flawless band Of inner solitude; we bind not thee; But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free? What heart [...]
When I am Dead, my Dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the [...]
