Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Christina Rossetti

by Christina Rossetti

  Day and night the Accuser makes no pause,

  Day and night protest the Righteous Laws,

  Good and Evil witness to man’s flaws;

  Man the culprit, man’s the ruined cause,

  Man midway to death’s devouring jaws

  And the worm that gnaws.

  Day and night our Jesus makes no pause,

  Pleads His own fulfilment of all laws,

  Veils with His Perfections mortal flaws,

  Clears the culprit, pleads the desperate cause,

  Plucks the dead from death’s devouring jaws

  And the worm that gnaws.

  O MINE ENEMY

  O mine enemy

  Rejoice not over me!

  Jesus waiteth to be gracious:

  I will yet arise,

  Mounting free and far,

  Past sun and star,

  To a house prepared and spacious

  In the skies.

  Lord, for Thine own sake

  Kindle my heart and break;

  Make mine anguish efficacious

  Wedded to Thine own:

  Be not Thy dear pain,

  Thy Love in vain,

  Thou Who waitest to be gracious

  On Thy Throne.

  LORD, DOST THOU LOOK ON ME, AND WILL NOT I

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

  Launch out my heart to Heaven to look on Thee?

  Here if one loved me I should turn to see,

  And often think on him and often sigh,

  And by a tender friendship make reply

  To love gratuitous poured forth on me,

  And nurse a hope of happy days to be,

  And mean “until we meet” in each good-bye.

  Lord, Thou dost look and love is in Thine Eyes,

  Thy Heart is set upon me day and night,

  Thou stoopest low to set me far above:

  O Lord, that I may love Thee make me wise;

  That I may see and love Thee grant me sight;

  And give me love that I may give Thee love.

  PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU

  Tumult and turmoil, trouble and toil,

  Yet peace withal in a painful heart;

  Never a grudge and never a broil,

  And ever the better part.

  O my King and my heart’s own choice,

  Stretch Thy Hand to Thy fluttering dove;

  Teach me, call to me with Thy Voice,

  Wrap me up in Thy Love.

  O CHRIST OUR ALL IN EACH, OUR ALL IN ALL!

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

  Others have this or that, a love, a friend,

  A trusted teacher, a long-worked-for end:

  But what to me were Peter or were Paul

  Without Thee? fame or friend if such might be?

  Thee wholly will I love, Thee wholly seek,

  Follow Thy foot-track, hearken for Thy call.

  O Christ mine All in all, my flesh is weak,

  A trembling fawning tyrant unto me:

  Turn, look upon me, let me hear Thee speak:

  Tho’ bitter billows of Thine utmost sea

  Swathe me, and darkness build around its wall,

  Yet will I rise, Thou lifting when I fall,

  And if Thou hold me fast, yet cleave to Thee.

  BECAUSE THY LOVE HATH SOUGHT ME

  Because Thy Love hath sought me,

  All mine is Thine and Thine is mine:

  Because Thy Blood hath bought me,

  I will not be mine own but Thine.

  I lift my heart to Thy Heart,

  Thy Heart sole resting-place for mine:

  Shall Thy Heart crave for my heart,

  And shall not mine crave back for Thine?

  THY FAINTING SPOUSE, YET STILL THY SPOUSE

  Thy fainting spouse, yet still Thy spouse;

  Thy trembling dove, yet still Thy dove;

  Thine own by mutual vows,

  By mutual love.

  Recall Thy vows, if not her vows;

  Recall Thy Love, if not her love:

  For weak she is, Thy spouse,

  And tired, Thy dove.

  LIKE AS THE HART DESIRETH THE WATER BROOKS

  My heart is yearning:

  Behold my yearning heart,

  And lean low to satisfy

  Its lonely beseeching cry,

  For Thou its fulness art.

  Turn, as once turning

  Thou didst behold Thy Saint

  In deadly extremity;

  Didst look, and win back to Thee

  His will frightened and faint.

  Kindle my burning

  From Thine unkindled Fire;

  Fill me with gifts and with grace

  That I may behold Thy Face,

  For Thee I desire.

  My heart is yearning,

  Yearning and thrilling thro’

  For Thy Love mine own of old,

  For Thy Love unknown, untold,

  Ever old, ever new.

  THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO

  How know I that it looms lovely that land I have never seen,

  With morning-glories and heartsease and unexampled green,

  With neither heat nor cold in the balm-redolent air?

  Some of this, not all, I know; but this is so;

  Christ is there.

  How know I that blessedness befalls who dwell in Paradise,

  The outwearied hearts refreshing, rekindling the worn-out eyes,

  All souls singing, seeing, rejoicing everywhere?

  Nay, much more than this I know; for this is so;

  Christ is there.

  O Lord Christ, Whom having not seen I love and desire to love,

  O Lord Christ, Who lookest on me uncomely yet still Thy dove,

  Take me to Thee in Paradise, Thine own made fair;

  For whatever else I know, this thing is so;

  Thou art there.

  JUDGE NOT ACCORDING TO THE APPEARANCE

  Lord, purge our eyes to see

  Within the seed a tree,

  Within the glowing egg a bird,

  Within the shroud a butterfly:

  Till taught by such, we see

  Beyond all creatures Thee,

  And hearken for Thy tender word,

  And hear it, “Fear not: it is I.”

  MY GOD, WILT THOU ACCEPT, AND WILL NOT WE

  My God, wilt Thou accept, and will not we

  Give aught to Thee?

  The kept we lose, the offered we retain

  Or find again.

  Yet if our gift were lost, we well might lose

  All for Thy use:

  Well lost for Thee, Whose Love is all for us

  Gratuitous.

  A CHILL BLANK WORLD. YET OVER THE UTMOST SEA

  A chill blank world. Yet over the utmost sea

  The light of a coming dawn is rising to me,

  No more than a paler shade of darkness as yet;

  While I lift my heart, O Lord, my heart unto Thee

  Who hast not forgotten me, yea, Who wilt not forget.

  Forget not Thy sorrowful servant, O Lord my God,

  Weak as I cry, faint as I cry underneath Thy rod,

  Soon to lie dumb before Thee a body devoid of breath,

  Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, a sod to the sod:

  Forget not my life, O my Lord, forget not my death.

  THE CHIEFEST AMONG TEN THOUSAND

  O Jesu, better than Thy gifts

  Art Thou Thine only Self to us!

  Palm branch its triumph, harp uplifts

  Its triumph-note melodious:

  But what are such to such as we?

  O Jesu, better than Thy saints

  Art Thou Thine only Self to us!

  The heart faints and the spirit faints

  For only Thee all-Glorious,

  For Thee, O only Lord, for Thee.

  SOME FEASTS AND FASTS

  CONTENTS

  ADVENT SUNDAY

&nb
sp; ADVENT

  SOONER OR LATER: YET AT LAST

  CHRISTMAS EVE

  CHRISTMAS DAY

  CHRISTMASTIDE

  ST. JOHN, APOSTLE

  BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER, SAYS ST. JOHN

  HOLY INNOCENTS

  UNSPOTTED LAMBS TO FOLLOW THE ONE LAMB

  EPIPHANY

  EPIPHANYTIDE

  SEPTUAGESIMA

  SEXAGESIMA

  THAT EDEN OF EARTH’S SUNRISE CANNOT VIE

  QUINQUAGESIMA

  PITEOUS MY RHYME IS

  ASH WEDNESDAY

  GOOD LORD, TODAY

  LENT

  EMBERTIDE

  MID-LENT

  PASSIONTIDE

  PALM SUNDAY

  MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

  TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

  WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

  MAUNDY THURSDAY

  GOOD FRIDAY MORNING

  GOOD FRIDAY

  GOOD FRIDAY EVENING

  A BUNDLE OF MYRRH IS MY WELL-BELOVED UNTO ME

  EASTER EVEN

  OUR CHURCH PALMS ARE BUDDING WILLOW TWIGS

  EASTER DAY

  EASTER MONDAY

  EASTER TUESDAY

  ROGATIONTIDE

  ASCENSION EVE

  ASCENSION DAY

  WHITSUN EVE

  WHITSUN DAY

  WHITSUN MONDAY

  WHITSUN TUESDAY

  TRINITY SUNDAY

  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. MARK

  ST. BARNABAS

  VIGIL OF ST. PETER

  ST. PETER

  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

  ADVENT SUNDAY

  Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out

  With lighted lamps and garlands round about

  To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.

  It may be at the midnight, black as pitch,

  Earth shall cast up her poor, cast up her rich.

  It may be at the crowing of the cock

  Earth shall upheave her depth, uproot her rock.

  For lo, the Bridegroom fetcheth home the Bride:

  His Hands are Hands she knows, she knows His Side.

  Like pure Rebekah at the appointed place,

  Veiled, she unveils her face to meet His Face.

  Like great Queen Esther in her triumphing,

  She triumphs in the Presence of her King.

  His Eyes are as a Dove’s, and she’s Dove-eyed;

  He knows His lovely mirror, sister, Bride.

  He speaks with Dove-voice of exceeding love,

  And she with love-voice of an answering Dove.

  Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go we out

  With lamps ablaze and garlands round about

  To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.

  ADVENT

  Earth grown old, yet still so green,

  Deep beneath her crust of cold

  Nurses fire unfelt, unseen:

  Earth grown old.

  We who live are quickly told:

  Millions more lie hid between

  Inner swathings of her fold.

  When will fire break up her screen?

  When will life burst thro’ her mould?

  Earth, earth, earth, thy cold is keen,

  Earth grown old.

  SOONER OR LATER: YET AT LAST

  Sooner or later: yet at last

  The Jordan must be past;

  It may be he will overflow

  His banks the day we go;

  It may be that his cloven deep

  Will stand up on a heap.

  Sooner or later: yet one day

  We all must pass that way;

  Each man, each woman, humbled, pale,

  Pass veiled within the veil;

  Child, parent, bride, companion,

  Alone, alone, alone.

  For none a ransom can be paid,

  A suretyship be made:

  I, bent by mine own burden, must

  Enter my house of dust;

  I, rated to the full amount,

  Must render mine account.

  When earth and sea shall empty all

  Their graves of great and small;

  When earth wrapped in a fiery flood

  Shall no more hide her blood;

  When mysteries shall be revealed;

  All secrets be unsealed;

  When things of night, when things of shame,

  Shall find at last a name,

  Pealed for a hissing and a curse

  Throughout the universe:

  Then Awful Judge, most Awful God,

  Then cause to bud Thy rod,

  To bloom with blossoms, and to give

  Almonds; yea, bid us live.

  I plead Thyself with Thee, I plead

  Thee in our utter need:

  Jesus, most Merciful of Men,

  Show mercy on us then;

  Lord God of Mercy and of men,

  Show mercy on us then.

  CHRISTMAS EVE

  Christmas hath a darkness

  Brighter than the blazing noon,

  Christmas hath a chillness

  Warmer than the heat of June,

  Christmas hath a beauty

  Lovelier than the world can show:

  For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

  Brought for us so low.

  Earth, strike up your music,

  Birds that sing and bells that ring;

  Heaven hath answering music

  For all Angels soon to sing:

  Earth, put on your whitest

  Bridal robe of spotless snow:

  For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

  Brought for us so low.

  CHRISTMAS DAY

  A baby is a harmless thing

  And wins our hearts with one accord,

  And Flower of Babies was their King,

  Jesus Christ our Lord:

  Lily of lilies He

  Upon His Mother’s knee;

  Rose of roses, soon to be

  Crowned with thorns on leafless tree.

  A lamb is innocent and mild

  And merry on the soft green sod;

  And Jesus Christ, the Undefiled,

  Is the Lamb of God:

  Only spotless He

  Upon His Mother’s knee;

  White and ruddy, soon to be

  Sacrificed for you and me.

  Nay, lamb is not so sweet a word,

  Nor lily half so pure a name;

  Another name our hearts hath stirred,

  Kindling them to flame:

  “Jesus” certainly

  Is music and melody:

  Heart with heart in harmony

  Carol we and worship we.

  CHRISTMASTIDE

  Love came down at Christmas,

  Love all lovely, Love Divine;

  Love was born at Christmas,

  Star and Angels gave the sign.

  Worship we the Godhead,

  Love Incarnate, Love Divine;

  Worship we our Jesus:

  But wherewith for sacred sign?

  Love shall be our token,

  Love be yours and love be mine,

  Love to God and all men,

  Love for plea and gift and sign.

  ST.
JOHN, APOSTLE

  Earth cannot bar flame from ascending,

  Hell cannot bind light from descending,

  Death cannot finish life never ending.

  Eagle and sun gaze at each other,

  Eagle at sun, brother at Brother,

  Loving in peace and joy one another.

  O St. John, with chains for thy wages,

  Strong thy rock where the storm-blast rages,

  Rock of refuge, the Rock of Ages.

  Rome hath passed with her awful voice,

  Earth is passing with all her joys,

  Heaven shall pass away with a noise.

  So from us all follies that please us,

  So from us all falsehoods that ease us, —

  Only all saints abide with their Jesus.

  Jesus, in love looking down hither,

  Jesus, by love draw us up thither,

  That we in Thee may abide together.

  BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER, SAYS ST. JOHN

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

  Eagle of eagles calling from above:

  Words of strong nourishment for life to feed upon,

  “Beloved, let us love.”

  Voice of an eagle, yea, Voice of the Dove:

  If we may love, winter is past and gone;

  Publish we, praise we, for lo! it is enough.

  More sunny than sunshine that ever yet shone,

  Sweetener of the bitter, smoother of the rough,