My Favorite Poems

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• "A Baby's Cradle With No Baby In It" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A baby's cradle with no baby in it,
  A baby's grave where autumn leaves drop sere;
  The sweet soul gathered home to Paradise,
  The body waiting here.

• "A Daughter Of Eve" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A fool I was to sleep at noon,
  And wake when night is chilly
  Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
  A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
  A fool to snap my lily.
  
  My garden-plot I have not kept;
  Faded and all-forsaken,
  I weep as I have never wept:
  Oh it was summer when I slept,
  It's winter now I waken.
  
  Talk what you please of future spring
  And sun-warmed sweet to-morrow: -
  Stripped bare of hope and everything,
  No more to laugh, no more to sing,
  I sit alone with sorrow.

• "A Diamond Or A Coal?" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A diamond or a coal?
  
  A diamond, if you please:
  Who cares about a clumsy coal
  Beneath the summer trees?
  
  A diamond or a coal?
  
  A coal, sir, if you please:
  One comes to care about the coal
  What time the waters freeze.

• "A Hope Carol" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A night was near, a day was near,
  Between a day and night
  I heard sweet voices calling clear,
  Calling me:
  I heard a whirr of wing on wing,
  But could not see the sight;
  I long to see my birds that sing,
  I long to see.
  
  Below the stars, beyond the moon,
  Between the night and day
  I heard a rising falling tune
  Calling me:
  I long to see the pipes and strings
  Whereon such minstrels play;
  I long to see each face that sings,
  I long to see.
  
  Today or may be not today,
  Tonight or not tonight,
  All voices that command or pray
  Calling me,
  Shall kindle in my soul such fire
  And in my eyes such light
  That I shall see that heart's desire
  I long to see.

• "A House Of Cards" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A house of cards
  Is neat and small:
  Shake the table,
  It must fall.
  
  Find the Court cards
  One by one;
  Raise it, roof it, -
  Now it's done: -
  Shake the table!
  That's the fun.

• "A Pause" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  They made the chamber sweet with flowers and leaves,
  And the bed sweet with flowers on which I lay;
  While my soul, love-bound, loitered on its way.
  
  I did not hear the birds about the eaves,
  Nor hear the reapers talk among the sheaves:
  Only my soul kept watch from day to day,
  My thirsty soul kept watch for one away:—
  Perhaps he loves, I thought, remembers, grieves.
  
  At length there came the step upon the stair,
  Upon the lock the old familiar hand:
  Then first my spirit seemed to scent the air
  Of Paradise; then first the tardy sand
  Of time ran golden; and I felt my hair
  Put on a glory,and my soul expand.

• "A Pause Of Thought" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  I looked for that which is not, nor can be,
  And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth:
  But years must pass before a hope of youth
  Is resigned utterly.
  
  I watched and waited with a steadfast will:
  And though the object seemed to flee away
  That I so longed for, ever day by day
  I watched and waited still.
  
  Sometimes I said: This thing shall be no more;
  My expectation wearies and shall cease;
  I will resign it now and be at peace:
  Yet never gave it o'er.
  
  Sometimes I said: It is an empty name
  I long for; to a name why should I give
  The peace of all the days I have to live?
  
  —
  Yet gave it all the same.
  
  Alas, thou foolish one! alike unfit
  For healthy joy and salutary pain:
  Thou knowest the chase useless, and again
  Turnest to follow it.

• "A Pin Has A Head, But Has No Hair" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A pin has a head, but has no hair;
  A clock has a face, but no mouth there;
  Needles have eyes, but they cannot see;
  A fly has a trunk without lock or key;
  A timepiece may lose, but cannot win;
  A corn-field dimples without a chin;
  A hill has no leg, but has a foot;
  A wine-glass a stem, but not a root;
  A watch has hands, but no thumb or finger;
  A boot has a tongue, but is no singer;
  Rivers run, though they have no feet;
  A saw has teeth, but it does not eat;
  Ash-trees have keys, yet never a lock;
  And baby crows, without being a cock.

• "A Pocket Handkerchief To Hem" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A pocket handkerchief to hem -
  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
  How many stitches it will take
  Before it's done, I fear.
  
  Yet set a stitch and then a stitch,
  And stitch and stitch away,
  Till stitch by stitch the hem is done -
  And after work is play!

• "A Portrait" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  I
  She gave up beauty in her tender youth,
  Gave all her hope and joy and pleasant ways;
  She covered up her eyes lest they should gaze
  On vanity, and chose the bitter truth.
  
  Harsh towards herself, towards others full of ruth,
  Servant of servants, little known to praise,
  Long prayers and fasts trenched on her nights and days:
  She schooled herself to sights and sounds uncouth
  That with the poor and stricken she might make
  A home, until the least of all sufficed
  Her wants; her own self learned she to forsake,
  Counting all earthly gain but hurt and loss.
  
  So with calm will she chose and bore the cross
  And hated all for love of Jesus Christ.
  
  II
  They knelt in silent anguish by her bed,
  And could not weep; but calmly there she lay.
  
  All pain had left her; and the sun's last ray
  Shone through upon her, warming into red
  The shady curtains.
  
  In her heart she said:
  'Heaven opens; I leave these and go away;
  The Bridegroom calls,—shall the Bride seek to stay?
  
  '
  Then low upon her breast she bowed her head.
  
  O lily flower, O gem of priceless worth,
  O dove with patient voice and patient eyes,
  O fruitful vine amid a land of dearth,
  O maid replete with loving purities,
  Thou bowedst down thy head with friends on earth
  To raise it with the saints in Paradise.

• "A Baby's Cradle With No Baby In It" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A baby's cradle with no baby in it,
  A baby's grave where autumn leaves drop sere;
  The sweet soul gathered home to Paradise,
  The body waiting here.

• "A Daughter Of Eve" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A fool I was to sleep at noon,
  And wake when night is chilly
  Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
  A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
  A fool to snap my lily.
  
  My garden-plot I have not kept;
  Faded and all-forsaken,
  I weep as I have never wept:
  Oh it was summer when I slept,
  It's winter now I waken.
  
  Talk what you please of future spring
  And sun-warmed sweet to-morrow: -
  Stripped bare of hope and everything,
  No more to laugh, no more to sing,
  I sit alone with sorrow.

• "A Diamond Or A Coal?" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A diamond or a coal?
  
  A diamond, if you please:
  Who cares about a clumsy coal
  Beneath the summer trees?
  
  A diamond or a coal?
  
  A coal, sir, if you please:
  One comes to care about the coal
  What time the waters freeze.

• "A Hope Carol" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A night was near, a day was near,
  Between a day and night
  I heard sweet voices calling clear,
  Calling me:
  I heard a whirr of wing on wing,
  But could not see the sight;
  I long to see my birds that sing,
  I long to see.
  
  Below the stars, beyond the moon,
  Between the night and day
  I heard a rising falling tune
  Calling me:
  I long to see the pipes and strings
  Whereon such minstrels play;
  I long to see each face that sings,
  I long to see.
  
  Today or may be not today,
  Tonight or not tonight,
  All voices that command or pray
  Calling me,
  Shall kindle in my soul such fire
  And in my eyes such light
  That I shall see that heart's desire
  I long to see.

• "A House Of Cards" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A house of cards
  Is neat and small:
  Shake the table,
  It must fall.
  
  Find the Court cards
  One by one;
  Raise it, roof it, -
  Now it's done: -
  Shake the table!
  That's the fun.

• "A Pause" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  They made the chamber sweet with flowers and leaves,
  And the bed sweet with flowers on which I lay;
  While my soul, love-bound, loitered on its way.
  
  I did not hear the birds about the eaves,
  Nor hear the reapers talk among the sheaves:
  Only my soul kept watch from day to day,
  My thirsty soul kept watch for one away:—
  Perhaps he loves, I thought, remembers, grieves.
  
  At length there came the step upon the stair,
  Upon the lock the old familiar hand:
  Then first my spirit seemed to scent the air
  Of Paradise; then first the tardy sand
  Of time ran golden; and I felt my hair
  Put on a glory,and my soul expand.

• "A Pause Of Thought" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  I looked for that which is not, nor can be,
  And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth:
  But years must pass before a hope of youth
  Is resigned utterly.
  
  I watched and waited with a steadfast will:
  And though the object seemed to flee away
  That I so longed for, ever day by day
  I watched and waited still.
  
  Sometimes I said: This thing shall be no more;
  My expectation wearies and shall cease;
  I will resign it now and be at peace:
  Yet never gave it o'er.
  
  Sometimes I said: It is an empty name
  I long for; to a name why should I give
  The peace of all the days I have to live?
  
  —
  Yet gave it all the same.
  
  Alas, thou foolish one! alike unfit
  For healthy joy and salutary pain:
  Thou knowest the chase useless, and again
  Turnest to follow it.

• "A Pin Has A Head, But Has No Hair" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A pin has a head, but has no hair;
  A clock has a face, but no mouth there;
  Needles have eyes, but they cannot see;
  A fly has a trunk without lock or key;
  A timepiece may lose, but cannot win;
  A corn-field dimples without a chin;
  A hill has no leg, but has a foot;
  A wine-glass a stem, but not a root;
  A watch has hands, but no thumb or finger;
  A boot has a tongue, but is no singer;
  Rivers run, though they have no feet;
  A saw has teeth, but it does not eat;
  Ash-trees have keys, yet never a lock;
  And baby crows, without being a cock.

• "A Pocket Handkerchief To Hem" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  A pocket handkerchief to hem -
  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
  How many stitches it will take
  Before it's done, I fear.
  
  Yet set a stitch and then a stitch,
  And stitch and stitch away,
  Till stitch by stitch the hem is done -
  And after work is play!

• "A Portrait" by Christina Georgina Rossetti Visit Christina Georgina Rossetti's Page Read Poem

  I
  She gave up beauty in her tender youth,
  Gave all her hope and joy and pleasant ways;
  She covered up her eyes lest they should gaze
  On vanity, and chose the bitter truth.
  
  Harsh towards herself, towards others full of ruth,
  Servant of servants, little known to praise,
  Long prayers and fasts trenched on her nights and days:
  She schooled herself to sights and sounds uncouth
  That with the poor and stricken she might make
  A home, until the least of all sufficed
  Her wants; her own self learned she to forsake,
  Counting all earthly gain but hurt and loss.
  
  So with calm will she chose and bore the cross
  And hated all for love of Jesus Christ.
  
  II
  They knelt in silent anguish by her bed,
  And could not weep; but calmly there she lay.
  
  All pain had left her; and the sun's last ray
  Shone through upon her, warming into red
  The shady curtains.
  
  In her heart she said:
  'Heaven opens; I leave these and go away;
  The Bridegroom calls,—shall the Bride seek to stay?
  
  '
  Then low upon her breast she bowed her head.
  
  O lily flower, O gem of priceless worth,
  O dove with patient voice and patient eyes,
  O fruitful vine amid a land of dearth,
  O maid replete with loving purities,
  Thou bowedst down thy head with friends on earth
  To raise it with the saints in Paradise.

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