Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AS COLD WATERS TO A THIRSTY SOUL, SO IS GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Golden-haired, lily-white Last Line: Yea, thus they joyed who now are overjoyed. Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina Subject(s): Jerusalem | ||||||||
'GOLDEN-HAIRED, lily-white, Will you pluck me lilies? Or will you show me where they grow, Show where the limpid rill is? But is your hair of gold or light, And is your foot of flake or fire, And have you wings rolled up from sight And songs to slake desire?' 'I pluck fresh flowers of Paradise, Lilies and roses red, A bending sceptre for my hand, A crown to crown my head. I sing my songs, I pluck my flowers Sweet-scented from their fragrant trees; I sing, we sing, amid the bowers, And gather palm-branches.' 'Is there a path to Heaven My stumbling foot may tread? And will you show that way to go, That bower and blossom bed?' 'The path to Heaven is steep and straight And scorched, but ends in shade of trees, Where yet a while we sing and wait And gather palm-branches.' CAST down but not destroyed, chastened not slain: Thy Saints have lived that life, but how can I? I, who thro' dread of death do daily die By daily foretaste of an unfelt pain. Lo I depart who shall not come again; Lo as a shadow I am flitting by; As a leaf trembling, as a wheel I fly, While death flies faster and my flight is vain. Chastened not slain, cast down but not destroyed: -- If thus Thy Saints have struggled home to peace, Why should not I take heart to be as they? They too pent passions in a house of clay, Fear and desire, and pangs and ecstasies; Yea, thus they joyed who now are overjoyed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SCHOOL WHERE I STUDIED by YEHUDA AMICHAI REVELATIONS; CIRCA 1948 by NORMAN DUBIE THE NINTH OF AB by JOHN HOLLANDER JERUSALEM (1) by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN: 78. LUZZATO, PADUA 1727 by CHARLES REZNIKOFF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM by ROBERT DUNCAN REMEMBERING NAT TURNER by STERLING ALLEN BROWN IT IS FINISHED' by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ITALIA, IO TI SALUTO!' by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE HEART KNOWETH ITS OWN BITTERNESS' (2) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |
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