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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 86. LOST DAYS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE LOST DAYS OF MY LIFE UNTIL TO-DAY
Last Line: "AND THOU THYSELF TO ALL ETERNITY!"
Subject(s): CATHOLICS; MELANCHOLY; ROMAN CATHOLICS; CATHOLICISM; DEJECTION;

THE lost days of my life until to-day,
What were they, could I see them on the street
Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?
Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?
Or such split water as in dreams must cheat
The undying throats of Hell, athirst alway?

I do not see them here; but after death
God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath.
"I am thyself,--what hast thou done to me?"
"And I--and I--thyself," (lo! each one saith,)
"And thou thyself to all eternity!"



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