Dante Gabriel Rossetti
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... her mother's lap leaned she, And stretched her thrilled throat passionately, And sighed from her soul, and said, "I see." Even as she spoke, they two were 'ware Of music-notes that fell through the air; A chiming shower of strange device, Drop echoing drop, once, twice and thrice, As rain may fall in Paradise. An instant come, in an instant gone, No time there was to think thereon. The mother held the sphere on her knee: --"Lean this way and speak low to me, And take no note but of what you see." "I see a man with a besom grey That sweeps the flying dust away." "Ay, that comes first in the mystic sphere; But now that the way is swept and clear, Heed well what next you look on there." "Stretched aloft and adown I see Two roads that part in waste-country: The glen lies deep and the ridge stands tall; What's great below is above seen small, And the hill-side is the valley-wall." "Stream-bank, daughter, or moor and moss, Both roads will take to Holy Cross. The hills are a weary waste to wage; But what of the valley-road's presage? That way must tend his pilgrimage." "As 'twere the turning leaves of a book, The road runs past me as I look; Or it is even as though mine eye Should watch calm waters filled with sky While lights and clouds and wings went by." "In every covert seek a spear; They 'll scarce lie close till he draws near." "The stream has spread to a river now; The stiff blue sedge is deep in the slough, But the banks are bare of shrub or bough." "Is there any roof that near at hand Might shelter yield to a hidden band?" "On the further bank I see but one, And a herdsman now in the sinking sun Unyokes his team at the threshold-stone." "Keep heedful watch by the water's edge, --Some boat might lurk 'neath the shadowed sedge." "One slid but now...
Poetry
The Poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Volume 1