Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE AND DEATH, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE AND DEATH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Our bark's on the water; come down, come down
Last Line: In the sea they have found a common grave.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death; Flowers; Love; Sea; Dead, The; Ocean


"Our bark's on the water; come down, come down,
I'll weave for thy fair head a leafy crown,
And in it I'll blend the roses bright,
With asphodel woven of faint sunlight.
But more precious than these I'll twine the pearls
In the flowing locks of thy chestnut curls;
And the gem and the flow'r from wave and from tree
Shall form a bright diadem, Bianca, for thee.
The sea is calm, and I will guard thee;
Oh what, sweet love, should thus retard thee?
Descend, fairest maiden, descend to the sea,
And sail o'er the motionless waters with me."
The sound of his last words was scarcely o'er,
When beside him she stood on the ocean shore.
Lightly she entered the gondola,
And gaily her lover followed her --
But for them it had been happier
Had they quietly lain in their beds all night,
Nor sailed forth 'neath the moonbeam's deceitful light.
Smoothly, swiftly the gondolier rowed along,
The splash of his oars keeping time to his song;
'Twas an old tale of hope and of fear and of danger,
Of the loves of a noble princess and a stranger;
How they fled, and were married one fine summer night,
And their days glided on in one stream of delight.
But oh! wherefore trembles that lady fair?
The lightning gleams forth through the heavy air;
The thunder peals loudly, the low wind is wailing,
And the heart of the lady for terror is failing.
But Gonsalvo around her his left arm clasped tightly,
And he fought with the sea that was foaming so whitely;
All vain are his struggles -- the billows rise higher,
The thunder is pealing, the sky seems on fire,
The wild wind is howling, the lightning ne'er ceases --
He still clasps his love, but his strength fast decreases --
Fair Bianca has fainted; she hears not the wind,
Nor the splash of the rain; to the lightning she's blind --
She knows not that down to the depths of the sea
She's dragging her love irresistibly:
Gonsalvo's efforts have fainter grown,
And she hangs on his arm like a heavy stone; --
And now o'er them rolls each mighty wave --
In the sea they have found a common grave.





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