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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 70. THE HILL-SUMMIT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: THIS FEAST-DAY OF THE SUN, HIS ALTAR THERE
Last Line: AND THE LAST BIRD FLY INTO THE LAST LIGHT.
Subject(s): MOUNTAINS; HILLS; DOWNS (GREAT BRITAIN);

THIS feast-day of the sun, his altar there
In the broad west has blazed for vesper-song;
And I have loitered in the vale too long
And gaze now a belated worshipper.
Yet may I not forget that I was 'ware,
So journeying, of his face at intervals
Transfigured where the fringed horizon falls,--
A fiery bush with coruscating hair.

And now that I have climbed and won this height,
I must tread downward through the sloping shade
And travel the bewildered tracks till night.
Yet for this hour I still may here be stayed
And see the gold air and the silver fade
And the last bird fly into the last light.



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