BEFORE THE BEGINNING THOU HAST FOREKNOWN THE END
Before the beginning Thou hast foreknown the end,
Before the birthday the death-bed was seen of Thee:
Cleanse what I cannot cleanse, mend what I cannot mend,
O Lord All-Merciful, be merciful to me.
While the end is drawing near I know not mine end;
Birth I recall not, my death I cannot foresee:
O God, arise to defend, arise to befriend,
O Lord All-Merciful, be merciful to me.
THE GOAL IN SIGHT! LOOK UP AND SING
The goal in sight! Look up and sing,
Set faces full against the light,
Welcome with rapturous welcoming
The goal in sight.
Let be the left, let be the right:
Straight forward make your footsteps ring
A loud alarum thro’ the night.
Death hunts you, yea, but reft of sting;
Your bed is green, your shroud is white:
Hail! Life and Death and all that bring
The goal in sight.
LOOKING BACK ALONG LIFE’S TRODDEN WAY
Looking back along life’s trodden way
Gleams and greenness linger on the track;
Distance melts and mellows all today,
Looking back.
Rose and purple and a silvery grey,
Is that cloud the cloud we called so black?
Evening harmonizes all today,
Looking back.
Foolish feet so prone to halt or stray,
Foolish heart so restive on the rack!
Yesterday we sighed, but not today
Looking back.
PRIVATELY PUBLISHED POEMS
CONTENTS
DEATH’S CHILL BETWEEN
HEART’S CHILL BETWEEN
REPINING
NEW ENIGMAS
CHARADES
THE ROSE
THE TREES’ COUNSELING
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
THE ELEVENTH HOUR
I KNOW YOU NOT
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
EASTER EVEN
COME UNTO ME
ASH WEDNESDAY
SPRING FANCIES
LAST NIGHT
PETER GRUMP / FORSS
IF
SEASONS
HENRY HARDIMAN
WITHIN THE VEIL
PARADISE: IN A SYMBOL
IN JULY
LOVE HATH A NAME OF DEATH
TU SCENDI DALE STELE, O RE DEL CIELO
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
THE DEAD CITY
THE WATER SPIRIT’S SONG
THE SONG OF THE STAR
SUMMER
TO MY MOTHER ON HER BIRTHDAY
THE RUINED CROSS
EVA
LOVE EPHEMERAL
BURIAL ANTHEM
SAPPHO
TASSO AND LEONORA
ON THE DEATH OF A CAT
MOTHER AND CHILD
FAIR MARGARET
EARTH AND HEAVEN
LOVE ATTACKED
LOVE DEFENDED
DIVINE AND HUMAN PLEADING
TO MY FRIEND ELIZABETH
AMORE E DOVERE
AMORE E DISPETTO
LOVE AND HOPE
SERENADE
THE ROSE
PRESENT AND FUTURE
WILL THESE HANDS NE’ER BE CLEAN?
SIR EUSTACE GREY
THE TIME OF WAITING
CHARITY
THE DEAD BRIDE
LIFE OUT OF DEATH
THE SOLITARY ROSE
LADY ISABELLA
THE DREAM
THE DYING MAN TO HIS BETROTHED
THE MARTYR
THE END OF TIME
RESURRECTION EVE
ZARA
VERSI
L’INCOGNITA
PURPUREA ROSA
SOUL RUDDERLESS, UNBRACED
ANIMUCCIA, VAGANTUCCIA, MORBIDUCCIA
DEATH’S CHILL BETWEEN
Chide not; let me breathe a little,
For I shall not mourn him long.
Tho’ the life-cord was so brittle
The love-cord was very strong.
I would wake a little space
Till I find a sleeping-place.
You can go, I shall not weep;
You can go unto your rest;
My heart-ache is all too deep,
And too sore my throbbing breast.
Can sobs be, or angry tears,
Where are neither hopes nor fears?
Tho’ with you I am alone,
And must be so everywhere,
I will make no useless moan;
None shall say: “She could not bear;”
While life lasts I will be strong,
But I shall not struggle long.
Listen, listen! everywhere
A low voice is calling me,
And a step is on the stair,
And one comes ye do not see.
Listen, listen! evermore
A dim hand knocks at the door.
Hear me: he is come again;
My own dearest is come back.
Bring him in from the cold rain;
Bring wine, and let nothing lack.
Thou and I will rest together,
Love, until the sunny weather.
I will shelter thee from harm,
Hide thee from all heaviness;
Come to me, and keep thee warm
By my side in quietness.
I will lull thee to thy sleep
With sweet songs; we will not weep.
Who hath talked of weeping? yet
There is something at my heart
Gnawing, I would fain forget,
And an aching and a smart —
Ah my Mother, ‘tis in vain,
For he is not come again.
HEART’S CHILL BETWEEN
I did not chide him, tho’ I knew
That he was false to me:
Chide the exhaling of the dew,
The ebbing of the sea,
The fading of a rosy hue,
But not inconstancy.
Why strive for love when love is o’er?
Why bind a restive heart?
He never knew the pain I bore
In saying: “We must part;
Let us be friends, and nothing more”: —
Oh woman’s shallow art!
But it is over, it is done;
I hardly heed it now;
So many weary years have run
Since then, I think not how
Things might have been; but greet each one
With an unruffled brow.
What time I am where others be
My heart
seems very calm,
Stone calm; but if all go from me
There comes a vague alarm,
A shrinking in the memory
From some forgotten harm.
And often thro’ the long long night
Waking when none are near,
I feel my heart beat fast with fright,
Yet know not what I fear.
Oh how I long to see the light
And the sweet birds to hear!
To have the sun upon my face,
To look up through the trees,
To walk forth in the open space,
And listen to the breeze,
And not to dream the burial place
Is clogging my weak knees.
Sometimes I can nor weep nor pray,
But am half stupefied;
And then all those who see me say
Mine eyes are opened wide,
And that my wits seem gone away: —
Ah would that I had died!
Would I could die and be at peace,
Or living could forget;
My grief nor grows nor doth decrease,
But ever is: — and yet
Methinks now that all this shall cease
Before the sun shall set.
REPINING
She sat alway thro’ the long day
Spinning the weary thread away;
And ever said in undertone:
“Come; that I be no more alone.”
From early dawn to set of sun
Working, her task was still undone;
And the long thread seemed to increase
Even while she spun and did not cease.
She heard the gentle turtle dove
Tell to its mate a tale of love;
She saw the glancing swallows fly,
Ever a social company;
She knew each bird upon its nest
Had cheering songs to bring it rest;
None lived alone, save only she;
The wheel went round more wearily;
She wept, and said in undertone:
“Come; that I be no more alone.”
Day followed day; and still she sighed
For love, and was not satisfied;
Until one night, when the moon-light
Turned all the trees to silver white,
She heard, what ne’er she heard before,
A steady hand undo the door.
The nightingale since set of sun
Her throbbing music had not done,
And she had listened silently;
But now the wind had changed, and she
Heard the sweet song no more, but heard
Beside her bed a whispered word:
“Damsel, rise up; be not afraid,
“For I am come at last;” it said.
She trembled tho’ the voice was mild,
She trembled like a frightened child,
Till she looked up, and then she saw
The unknown speaker without awe.
He seemed a fair young man, his eyes
Beaming with serious charities;
His cheek was white, but hardly pale;
And a dim glory, like a veil,
Hovered about his head, and shone
Thro’ the whole room, till night was gone.
So her fear fled; and then she said,
Leaning upon her quiet bed:
“Now thou art come I prithee stay,
“That I may see thee in the day,
“And learn to know thy voice, and hear
“It evermore calling me near.”
He answered: “Rise, and follow me.”
But she looked upwards wonderingly:
“And whither would’st thou go friend? stay
“Until the dawning of the day.”
But he said: “The wind ceaseth, Maid;
“Of chill nor damp be thou afraid.”
She bound her hair up from the floor,
And passed in silence from the door.
So they went forth together, he
Helping her forward tenderly.
The hedges bowed beneath his hand;
Forth from the streams came the dry land
As they passed over; evermore
The pallid moonbeams shone before,
And the wind hushed, and nothing stirred;
Not even a solitary bird
Scared by their footsteps fluttered by,
Where aspen trees stood steadily.
As they went on, at length a sound
Came trembling on the air around;
The undistinguishable hum
Of life; voices that go and come
Of busy men and the child’s sweet
High laugh, and noise of trampling feet.
Then he said: “Wilt thou go and see?”
And she made answer joyfully:
“The noise of life, of human life,
“Of dear communion without strife,
“Of converse held ‘twixt friend and friend;
“Is it not here our path shall end?”
He led her on a little way
Until they reached a hillock: “Stay.”
It was a village in a plain.
High mountains screened it from the rain
And stormy wind; and nigh at hand
A bubbling streamlet flowed, o’er sand
Pebbly and fine; and sent life up
Green succous stalk and flower cup.
Gradually, day’s harbinger,
A chilly wind began to stir.
It seemed a gentle powerless breeze
That scarcely rustled thro’ the trees;
And yet it touched the mountain’s head,
And the paths man might never tread.
But hearken! in the quiet weather
Do all the streams flow down together?
No, ‘tis a sound more terrible
Than tho’ a thousand rivers fell.
The everlasting ice and snow
Were loosened then, but not to flow;
With a loud crash like solid thunder
The avalanche came, burying under
The village; turning life and breath
And rest and joy and plans to death.
“Oh let us fly, for pity fly,
“Let us go hence friend, thou and I.
“There must be many regions yet
“Where these things make not desolate.”
He looked upon her seriously;
Then said: “Arise, and follow me.”
The path that lay before them was
Nigh covered over with long grass,
And many slimy things and slow
Trailed on between the roots below.
The moon looked dimmer than before;
And shadowy cloudlets floating o’er
Its face, sometimes quite hid its light,
And filled the skies with deeper night.
At last, as they went on, the noise
Was heard of the sea’s mighty voice;
And soon the ocean could be seen
In its long restlessness serene.
Upon its breast a vessel rode
That drowsily appeared to nod
As the great billows rose and fell,
And swelled to sink, and sank to swell.
Meanwhile the strong wind had come forth
From the chill regions of the North;
The mighty wind invisible.
And the low waves began to swell;
And the sky darkened overhead;
And the moon once looked forth, then fled
Behind dark clouds; while here and there
The lightning shone out in the air;
And the approaching thunder rolled
With angry pealings manifold.
How many vows were made; and prayers
That in safe times were cold and scarce.
Still all availed not; and at length
The waves arose in all their strength,
And fought against the ship, and filled
The ship; then were the clouds unsealed,
And the rains hurried forth and beat
On every side and over it.
Some clung together; and some kept
A long stern silence; and some wept.
Many, half crazed, looked on in wonder
As the strong timbers rent asunder;
Friends forgot friends; foes fled to foes;
And still the water rose and rose.
“Ah woe is me! whom I have seen
“Are now as tho’ they had not been.
“In the earth there is room for birth,
“And there are graves enough in earth;
“Why should the cold sea, tempest torn,
“Bury those whom it hath not borne?”
He answered not, and they went on.
The glory of the heavens was gone;
The moon gleamed not, nor any Star;
Cold winds were rustling near and far;
And from the trees the dry leaves fell
With a sad sound unspeakable.
The air was cold; till from the South
A gust blew hot like sudden drouth
Into their faces, and a light
Glowing and red shone thro’ the night.
A mighty city full of flame,
And death, and sounds without a name!
Amid the black and blinding smoke
The people, as one man, awoke.
Oh happy they who yesterday
On the long journey went away;
Whose pallid lips, smiling and chill,
While the flames scorch them smile on still;
Who murmur not, who tremble not
When the bier crackles fiery hot;
Who dying said in love’s increase:
“Lord, let Thy servant part in peace.”
Those in the town could see and hear
A shaded river flowing near.
The broad deep bed could hardly hold
Its plenteous waters calm and cold.
Was flame wrapped all the city wall,
The city gates were flame wrapped all.
What was man’s strength, what puissance then?
Women were mighty as strong men.
Some knelt in prayer believing still,
Resigned unto a righteous will,
Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Christina Rossetti Page 48