Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY', by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY', by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me: doth it not grieve thee to lie here
Last Line: I shall lie safe at rest and freed from care
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Transience; Death; God; Heaven; Rest


'' Tell me: doth it not grieve thee to lie here,
And see the cornfields waving not for thee,
Just in the waxing Summer of the year?''

'' I fade from earth; and lo! along with me
The season that I love will fade away:
How should I look for Autumn longingly?''

'' Yet Autumn beareth fruit whilst day by day
The leaves grow browner with a mellow hue,
Declining to a beautiful decay.''

'' Decay is death, with which I have to do,
And see it near; behold, it is more good
Than length of days and length of sorrow too.''

'' But thy heart hath not dwelt in solitude:
Many have loved and love thee; dost not heed
Free love, for which in vain have others sued?''

'' I thirst for love, love is mine only need,
Love such as none hath borne me, nor can bear,
True love that prompteth thought and word and deed.''

'' Here it is not: why seek it otherwhere?
Nay, bow thy head, and own that on this earth
Are many goodly things, and sweet, and fair.''

'' There are tears in man's laughter; in his mirth
There is a fearful forward look; and lo!
An infant's cry gives token of its birth.''

'' I mark the ocean of Time ebb and flow:
He who hath care one day, and is perplext
Tomorrow may have joy in place of woe.''

'' Evil becomes good; and to this annext
Good becomes evil; speak of it no more;
My heart is wearied and my spirit vext.''

'' Is there no place it grieves thee to give o'er?
Is there no home thou lov'st, and so wouldst fain
Tarry a little longer at the door?''

'' I must go hence and not return again;
But the friends whom I have shall come to me,
And dwell together with me safe from pain.''

'' Where is that mansion mortals cannot see?
Behold the tombs are full of worms; shalt thou
Rise thence and soar up skywards gloriously?''

'' Even as the planets shine we know not how,
We shall be raised then; changed, yet still the same;
Being made like Christ; yea, being as He is now.''

'' Thither thou goest whence no man ever came:
Death's voyagers return not; and in Death
There is no room for speech or sigh or fame.''

'' There is room for repose that comforteth;
There weariness is not; and there content
Broodeth for ever, and hope hovereth.''

'' When the stars fall, and when the graves are rent,
Shalt thou have safety? shalt thou look for life
When the great light of the broad sun is spent?''

'' These elements shall consummate their strife,
This heaven and earth shall shrivel like a scroll
And then be re-created, beauty-rife.''

'' Who shall abide it when from pole to pole
The world's foundations shall be overthrown?
Who shall abide to scan the perfect whole?''

'' He who hath strength given to him, not his own;
He who hath faith in that which is not seen,
And patient hope; who trusts in love alone.''

'' Yet thou! the death-struggle must intervene
Ere thou win rest; think better of it; think
Of all that is and shall be, and hath been.''

'' The cup my Father giveth me to drink,
Shall I not take it meekly? though my heart
Tremble a moment, it shall never shrink.''

'' Satan will wrestle with thee, when thou art
In the last agony; and Death will bring
Sins to remembrance ere thy spirit part.''

'' In that great hour of unknown suffering
God shall be with me, and His arm made bare
Shall fight for me: yea, underneath His wing
I shall lie safe at rest and freed from care.''





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