For some who love him
Would have it so.
O UOMMIBATTO
Agil, giocondo,
Che ti sei fatto
Irsuto e tondo!
Deh non fuggire
Qual vagabondo,
Non disparire
Forando il mondo:
Pesa davvero
D’un emisfero
Non lieve il pondo.
COR MIO, COR MIO
Cor mio, cor mio,
Più non ti veggo, ma mi rammento
Del giorno spento,
Cor mio.
Pur ti ricordi del lungo amore,
Cor del mio core,
Cor mio?
I SAID “ALL’S OVER” — & I MADE MY
I said “All’s over” — & I made my
Thenceforward to keep silence &
From any hope or enterprise aga
But as one certain day the sap
Sun warmed & solaced in its f
So something stirred in me th
And all my hardness broke [illegible fragment]
And hope once more tended [illegible fragment]
I SAID GOOD BYE IN HOPE
I said good bye in hope:
But now we meet again
I have no hope at all
Of anything but pain,
Our parting & our meeting
Alike in vain.
Hope on thro’ all your life
Until the end, dear Friend.
Live thro’ your noble life
Where joy & promise blend:
I too will live my life
Until the end.
Long may your vine entwine,
Long may your figtree spread
Their paradise of shade
Above your cherished head:
My shelter was a gourd,
And it is dead.
Yet when out of a grave
We are gathered home at last,
Then may we own life spilt
No good worth holding fast: —
Death had its bitterness
But it is past.
MY MOUSE
A Venus seems my Mouse
Come safe ashore from foaming seas,
Which in a small way & at ease
Keeps house.
An Iris seems my Mouse,
Bright bow of that exhausted shower
Which made a world of sweet-herbs flower
And boughs.
A darling Mouse it is: —
Part hope not likely to take wing,
Part memory, part anything
You please.
Venus-cum-Iris Mouse
From shifting tides set safe apart,
In no mere bottle, in my heart
Keep house.
HAD FORTUNE PARTED US
Had Fortune parted us
Fortune is blind,
Had Anger parted us
Anger unkind —
But since God parts us
Let us part humbly
Bearing our burden
Bravely & dumbly.
And since there is but one
Heaven, not another,
Let us not close that door
Against each other.
God’s Love is higher than mine,
Christ’s tenfold proved,
Yet even I would die
For thee Beloved.
COUNTERBLAST ON PENNY TRUMPET
“When raged the conflict, fierce & hot.”
If Mr. Bright retiring does not please
And Mr. Gladstone staying gives offence,
What can man do which is not one of these?
Use your own common sense.
Yet he’s a brave man who abjures his cause
For conscience’ sake: let byegones be byegones:
Not this among the makers of our laws
The least & and last of Johns.
If all our byegones could be piled on shelves
High out of reach of penny-line Tyrtaeus!
If only all of us could see ourselves
As others see us!
A ROUNDEL SEEMS TO FIT A ROUND OF DAYS
A roundel seems to fit a round of days
Be they the days of upright man or scoundrel:
Allow me to construct then in your praise
A roundel.
[This flower of wit turns out a weed like groundsel:
Yet deign to welcome it, as loftiest bays
Grown on the shore of Girvan’s ocean groundswell.]
Accept the love that underlies the lays;
Condone the barbarous rhymes that will not sound well
In building up, all Poets to amaze,
A roundel.
HEAVEN OVERARCHES EARTH AND SEA
Heaven overarches earth and sea,
Earth-sadness and sea-bitterness;
Heaven overarches you and me:
A little while, and we shall be
(Please God) where there is no more sea
Or barren wilderness.
Heaven overarches you and me
And all earth’s gardens and her graves:
Look up with me, until we see
The day break and the shadows flee;
What tho’ tonight wrecks you and me,
If so tomorrow saves?
SLEEPING AT LAST, THE TROUBLE & TUMULT OVER
Sleeping at last, the trouble & tumult over,
Sleeping at last, the struggle & horror past,
Cold & white out of sight of friend & of lover
Sleeping at last.
No more a tired heart downcast or overcast,
No more pangs that wring or shifting fears that hover,
Sleeping at last in a dreamless sleep locked fast.
Fast asleep. Singing birds in their leafy cover
Cannot wake her, nor shake her the gusty blast.
Under the purple thyme & the purple clover
Sleeping at last.
4TH MAY MORNING
My carrier pigeon is a “fancy” pigeon,
Less tangible than widgeon;
A sympathetic love, — yet not a Cupid,
Nor pert nor stupid,
Heart-warm & snug tho’ May Day deal in zeroes,
A well-known Eros.
On windless wings by flight untired for ever
Outspeed the speeding river,
From Torrington remote to utmost Chelsea
( — Do what I tells ye! — )
Carry a heart of love & thanks & blisses,
A beak of kisses,
Past Piccadilly’s hills & populous valleys,
Past every human head that more or less is
Begirt with tawny tresses,
Past every house, to sumptuous Bellevue Palace;
There greet the courteous Courtneys with politeness,
And the dear Scotts with an affectionate brightness,
And give a kiss to dark-locked Alice.
QUANTO A LEI GRATA IO SONO
“Quanto a Lei grata io sono
L’unmil dirà semplicità del dono.”
THE CHINAMAN
‘Centre of Earth!’ a Chinaman he said,
And bent over a map his pig-tailed head, —
That map in which, portrayed in colours bright,
China, all dazzling, burst upon the sight:
‘Centre of Earth!’ repeatedly he cries,
‘Land of the brave, the beautiful, the wise!’
Thus he exclaimed; when lo his words arrested
Showed what sharp agony his head had tested.
He feels a tug — another, and another —
And quick exclaims, ‘Hallo! what’s now the bother?’
But soon alas perceives. And, ‘Why, false night,
Why not from men shut out the hateful sight?
The faithless English have cut off my tail,
And left me my sad fortunes to bewail.
Now in the streets I can no more appear,
For all the other men a pig-
tail wear.’
He said, and furious cast into the fire
His tail: those flames became its funeral-pyre.
COME CHEER UP, MY LADS, ‘TIS TO GLORY WE STEER!
‘Come cheer up, my lads, ‘tis to glory we steer!’
As the soldier remarked whose post lay in the rear.
THE PLAGUE
“Listen, the last stroke of death’s noon has struck —
The plague is come,” a gnashing Madman said,
And laid him down straightway upon his bed.
His writhèd hands did at the linen pluck;
Then all is over. With a careless chuck
Among his fellows he is cast. How sped
His spirit matters little: many dead
Make men hard-hearted. — ”Place him on the truck.
Go forth into the burial-ground and find
Room at so much a pitful for so many.
One thing is to be done; one thing is clear:
Keep thou back from the hot unwholesome wind,
That it infect not thee.” Say, is there any
Who mourneth for the multitude dead here?
HOW MANY AUTHORS ARE MY FIRST!
How many authors are my first!
And I shall be so too
Unless I finish speedily
That which I have to do.
My second is a lofty tree
And a delicious fruit;
This in the hot-house flourishes —
That amid rocks takes root.
My whole is an immortal queen
Renowned in classic lore:
Her a god won without her will,
And her a goddess bore.
ME YOU OFTEN MEET
Me you often meet
In London’s crowded street,
And merry children’s voices my resting-place proclaim.
Pictures and prose and verse
Compose me — I rehearse
Evil and good and folly, and call each by its name.
I make men glad, and I
Can bid their senses fly,
And festive echoes know me of Isis and of Cam.
But give me to a friend,
And amity will end,
Though he may have the temper and meekness of a lamb.
SO I BEGAN MY WALK OF LIFE; NO STOP
So I began my walk of life; no stop
Was possible; or else my will was frail;
Or is it that the first stumblings entail
Weakness no after strength has power to prop?
The heart puts forth her boughs; and these we lop
For very wantonness; until the gale
Is rank with blood; then our life-portions fail
And we are fain to share another’s sop.
At first my heart was true and my soul true,
And then the outside world believed me false.
Therefore my sweets grew bitter, and I thrust
Life back, till it stood still and turned to must.
Yet sometimes through the great stagnation calls
Of spirits reach me: is it so with you?
SO I GREW HALF DELIRIOUS AND QUITE SICK
So I grew half delirious and quite sick,
And thro’ the darkness saw strange faces grin
Of Monsters at me. One put forth a fin,
And touched me clammily: I could not pick
A quarrel with it: it began to lick
My hand, making meanwhile a piteous din
And shedding human tears: it would begin
To near me, then retreat. I heard the quick
Pulsation of my heart, I marked the fight
Of life and death within me; then sleep threw
Her veil around me; but this thing is true:
When I awoke the sun was at his height,
And I wept sadly, knowing that one new
Creature had love for me, and others spite.
ON THE NOTE YOU DO NOT SEND ME
On the note you do not send me
I have thought too long: adieu.
Hope and fear no longer rend me: —
Home is near: not news of you.
CHARON
In my cottage near the Styx
Co. and Charon still combine
Us to ferry o’er like bricks
In a boat of chaste design.
Cerberus, thou triple fair,
Distance doth thy charms impair:
Let the passage give to us
Charon, Co., and Cerberus.
chorus
Now the passage gives us to
Charon, Cerberus, and Co.
FROM METASTASIO
First, last, and dearest,
My love, mine own,
Thee best beloved,
Thee love alone,
Once and for ever
So love I thee.
First as a suppliant
Love makes his moan,
Then as a monarch
Sets up his throne:
Once and for ever —
So love I thee.
CHIESA E SIGNORE
la chiesa
Vola, preghiera, e digli
Perchè Ti stai lontano?
Passeggi Tu frai gigli
Portando rosa in mano?
Non Ti fui giglio e rosa
Quando mi amasti Tu?
Rivolgiti alla sposa,
O mio Signor Gesu.
il signore
Di te non mi scordai
Sposa mia dolce e mesta:
Se Mi sei ros il sai,
Che porto spine in testa.
Ti diedi e core e vita,
Me tutto Io diedi a te,
Ed or ti porgo aita:
Abbi fidanza in Me.
la chiesa
Vola, preghiera, a Lui,
E grida: Ahi pazienza!
Te voglio e non altrui,
Te senza e tutto senza.
Fragrante piu di giglio
E rosa a me sei Tu,
Di Dio l’ Eterno Figlio,
O mio Signor Gesu.
GOLDEN HOLLY
Common Holly bears a berry
To make Christmas Robins merry: —
Golden Holly bears a rose,
Unfolding at October’s close
To cheer an old Friend’s eyes and nose.
I toiled on, but thou
Wast weary of the way,
And so we parted: now
Who shall say
Which is happier — I or thou?
I am weary now
On the solitary way:
But art thou rested, thou?
Who shall say
Which of us is calmer now?
Still my heart’s love, thou,
In thy secret way,
Art still remembered now:
Who shall say —
Still rememberest thou?
COR MIO
Still sometimes in my secret heart of hearts
I say “Cor mio” when I remember you,
And thus I yield us both one tender due,
Welding one whole of two divided parts.
Ah Friend, too wise or unwise for such arts,
Ah noble Friend, silent and strong and true,
Would you have given me roses for the rue
For which I bartered roses in love’s marts?
So late in autumn one forgets the spring,
Forgets the summer with its opulence,
The callow birds that long have found a wing,
The swallows that more lately got them hence:
Will anything like spring, will anything
Like summer, rouse one day the slumbering sense?
MY OLD ADMIRATION BEFORE I WAS TWENTY
My old admiration before I was twenty, —
Is predilect still, now promoted to se’enty!
My own demi-century plus an odd one
Some weight to my judgment may fairly impart.
Accept this faint flash of a smouldering fun,
<
br /> The fun of a heavy old heart.
TO MARY ROSSETTI
You were born in the Spring
When the pretty birds sing
In sunbeamy bowers:
Then dress like a Fairy,
Dear dumpling my Mary,
In green and in flowers.
NE’ SOGNI TI VEGGO
Ne’ sogni ti veggo,
Amante ed amico;
Ai piedi ti seggo,
Ti tngo tutor.
Nè chiedi nè chieggo,
Nè dici nè dico,
L’ amore ab antico
Che scaldaci il cor.
Ah voce se avessi
Me stessa a scoprire —
Ah esprimer sapessi
L’ angoscia e l’ amor!
Ah almen se potessi
A lungo dormire,
Nè pianger nè dire,
Mirandoti ognor!
TO MY FIOR-DI-LISA
The Rose is Love’s own flower, and Love’s no less
The Lily’s tenderness.
Then half their dignity must Roses yield
To Lilies of the field?
Nay, diverse notes make up true harmony,
All-fashioned loves agree:
Love wears the Lily’s whiteness, and Love glows
In the deep-hearted Rose.
HAIL, NOBLE FACE OF NOBLE FRIEND!
Hail, noble face of noble friend! —
Hail, honored master hand and dear! —
On you may Christmas good descend
Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Christina Rossetti Page 76