Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HOPING AGAINST HOPE, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOPING AGAINST HOPE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If he would come today, today, today
Last Line: But sleep on all the same.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Variant Title(s): If
Subject(s): Death; Graves; Hope; Love; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones; Optimism


If he would come today today today,
Oh what a day today would be;
But now he's away, miles and miles away
From me across the sea.

O little bird flying flying flying
To your nest in the warm west,
Tell him as you pass that I am dying,
As you pass home to your nest.

I have a sister, I have a brother,
A faithful hound, a tame white dove;
But I had another, once I had another,
And I miss him my love, my love.

In this weary world it is so cold so cold
While I sit here all alone
I would not like to wait and to grow old
But just to be dead and gone.

Make me fair when I lie dead on my bed,
Fair where I am lying;
Perhaps he may come and look upon me dead
He for whom I am dying.

Dig my grave for two with a stone to show it
And on the stone write my name:
If he never comes I shall never know it
But sleep on all the same.





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