Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 101. THE ONE HOPE, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI


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THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 101. THE ONE HOPE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When vain desire at last and vain regret
Last Line: Not less nor more, but even that word alone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Hope; Love; Optimism


WHEN vain desire at last and vain regret
Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain,
What shall assuage the unforgotten pain
And teach the unforgetful to forget?
Shall Peace be still a sunk stream long unmet,--
Or may the soul at once in a green plain
Stoop through the spray of some sweet life-fountain
And cull the dew-drenched flowering amulet?

Ah! when the wan soul in that golden air
Between the scriptured petals softly blown
Peers breathless for the gift of grace unknown,--
Ah! let none other alien spell soe'er
But only the one Hope's one name be there,--
Not less nor more, but even that word alone.





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