Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 27. HEART'S COMPASS, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI


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THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 27. HEART'S COMPASS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes thou seem'st not as thyself alone
Last Line: Stakes with a smile the world against thy heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Love


SOMETIMES thou seem'st not as thyself alone,
But as the meaning of all things that are;
A breathless wonder, shadowing forth afar
Some heavenly solstice hushed and halcyon;
Whose unstirred lips are music's visible tone;
Whose eyes the sun-gate of the soul unbar,
Being of its furthest fires oracular;--
The evident heart of all life sown and mown.

Even such Love is; and is not thy name Love?
Yea, by thy hand the Love-god rends apart
All gathering clouds of Night's ambiguous art;
Flings them far down, and sets thine eyes above;
And simply, as some gage of flower or glove,
Stakes with a smile the world against thy heart.





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