Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NOW THEY DESIRE', by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NOW THEY DESIRE', by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: There is a sleep we have not slept
Last Line: In sevenfold day of days
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Jerusalem; Doves; Sleep; Dreams; Love


There is a sleep we have not slept,
Safe in a bed unknown:
There hearts are staunched that long have wept
Alone or bled alone:
Sweet sleep that dreams not, or whose dream
Is foretaste of the truth:
Sweet sleep whose sweets are what they seem,
Refreshing more than youth.

There is a sea whose waters clear
Are never tempest-tost:
There is a home whose children dear
Are saved, not one is lost:
There Cherubim and Seraphim
And Angels dwell with Saints,
Whose lustre no more dwindleth dim,
Whose ardour never faints.

There is a Love which fills desire
And can our love requite:
Like fire it draws our lesser fire.
Like greater light our light:
For it we agonize in strife,
We yearn, we famish thus ''"
Lo in the far-off land of life
Doth it not yearn for us ?

O fair, O fair Jerusalem,
How fair, how far away,
When shall we see thy Jasper-gem
That gives thee light for day ?
Thy sea of glass like fire, thy streets
Of glass hke virgin gold,
Thy royal Elders on their seats.
Thy four Beasts manifold?

Fair City of delights, the Bride
In raiment white and clean.
When shall we see thee loving-eyed.
Sun-girdled, happy Queen?
Without a wrinkle or a spot.
Blood-cleansed, blood-purchased once:
In how fair ground is fallen the lot
Of all thy happy sons !

Dove's eyes beneath thy parted lock,
A dove's soft voice is thine :
Thy nest is safe within the Rock,
Safe in the very Vine:
Thy walls salvation buildeth them
And all thy gates are praise,
O fair, O fair Jerusalem,
In sevenfold day of days.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net