Christina Georgina Rossetti

THE FLESH
"Sweet, thou art pale."
"More pale to see,
Christ hung upon the cruel tree

Something this foggy day, a something which Is neither of this fog nor of today,
Has set me dreaming of the winds that play Past certain cliffs, along one certain beach,
And turn the topmost edge of waves to spray:
Ah pleasant pebbl...

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 remembe...

God strengthen me to bear myself;
That heaviest weight of all to bear,
Inalienable weight of care
All others are outside myself,

How many seconds in a minute
Sixty, and no more in it
How many minutes in an hour
Sixty for sun and shower

I sat beneath a willow tree,
Where water falls and calls;
While fancies upon fancies solaced me,
Some true, and some were false

I marked where lovely Venus and her court With song and dance and merry laugh went by;
Weightless, their wingless feet seemed made to fly,
Bound from the ground and in mid air to sport
Left far behind I heard the dolphins snort,

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
Thou too aloof bound with the flawless

Gone were but the Winter,
Come were but the Spring,
I would go to a
Where the birds sing;

Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,

1 Lo dì che han detto a' dolci amici addio
(Dante) Amor, con quanto sforzo oggi mi vinci
(Petrarch) Come back to me, who wait and watch for you: - Or come not yet, for it is over then,
And long it is before you come again,

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,