POETRY: Mix A Pancake by Christina Rossetti
Mix a pancake, Stir a pancake, Pop it in the pan; Fry the pancake, Toss the pancake— Catch it if you [...]
Christina Rossetti
POETRY: Sexagesima by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Yet Earth was very good in days of old, And Earth is lovely still: Still for the sacred flock she spreads the fold, For Sion rears the hill. Mother she is, and cradle of our race, A depth where treasures lie, The broad foundation of a holy place, Man’s step to scale the sky. She spreads the harvest-field which Angels reap, And lo! the crop is white; She spreads God’s Acre where the happy sleep All night that is not night. Earth may not pass till Heaven shall pass away, Nor Heaven may be renewed Except with Earth: and once more in that day Earth shall be very [...]
POETRY: Love Came Down At Christmas by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas, Star and angels gave the sign. Worship we the Godhead, Love incarnate, love divine; Worship we our Jesus: But wherewith for sacred sign? Love shall be our token, Love shall be yours and love be mine, Love to God and to all men, Love for plea and gift and [...]
POETRY: Holy Innocents by Christina Rossetti
Sleep, little Baby, sleep; The holy Angels love thee, And guard thy bed, and keep A blessed watch above thee. No spirit can come near Nor evil beast to harm thee: Sleep, Sweet, devoid of fear Where nothing need alarm thee. The Love which doth not sleep, The eternal Arms surround thee: The Shepherd of the sheep In perfect love hath found thee. Sleep through the holy night, Christ-kept from snare and sorrow, Until thou wake to light And love and warmth [...]
POETRY: Christmas Eve by Christina Rossetti
Christmas has a darkness Brighter than the blazing noon, Christmas has a chillness Warmer than the heat of June, Christmas has a beauty Lovelier than the world can show; For Christmas brings us Jesus, Brought for us so low. Earth strike up your music, Birds that sing and bells that ring: Heaven has answering music For all angels soon to sing: Earth put on your whitest Bridal robe of spotless snow: For Christmas brings us Jesus, Brought for us so [...]
POETRY: For Advent by Christina Rossetti
Sweet sweet sound of distant waters, falling On a parched and thirsty plain; Sweet sweet song of soaring skylark, calling On the sun to shine again; Perfume of the rose, only the fresher For past fertilizing rain; Pearls amid the sea, a hidden treasure For some daring hand to gain; — Better, dearer than all these Is the earth beneath the trees: Of a much more priceless worth Is the old, brown, common earth. Little snow-white lamb, piteously bleating For thy mother far away; Saddest sweetest nightingale, retreating With thy sorrow from the day; Weary fawn whom night has overtaken, From the herd gone quite astray; Dove whose nest was rifled and forsaken In the budding month of May; — Roost upon the leafy trees; Lie on earth and take your [...]
POETRY: Later Life: A Double Sonnet Of Sonnets by Christina Rossetti
1. Before the mountains were brought forth, before Earth and the world were made, then God was God: And God will still be God, when flames shall roar Round earth and heaven dissolving at His nod: And this God is our God, even while His rod Of righteous wrath falls on us smiting sore: And this God is our God for evermore Through life, through death, while clod returns to clod. For though He slay us we will trust in Him; We will flock home to Him by divers ways: Yea, though He slay us we will vaunt His praise, Serving and loving with the Cherubim, Watching and loving with the Seraphim, Our very selves His praise through endless days. 2. Rend hearts and rend not garments for our sins; Gird sackcloth not on body but on soul; Grovel in dust [...]
POETRY: Advent by Christina Rossetti
This Advent moon shines cold and clear, These Advent nights are long; Our lamps have burned year after year, And still their flame is strong. “Watchman, what of the night?” we cry, Heart-sick with hope deferred: “No speaking signs are in the sky,” Is still the watchman’s word. The Porter watches at the gate, The servants watch within; The watch is long betimes and late, The prize is slow to win. “Watchman, what of the night?” but still His answer sounds the same: “No daybreak tops the utmost hill, Nor pale our lamps of flame.” One to another hear them speak, The patient virgins wise: “Surely He is not far to seek,”— “All night we watch and rise.” “The [...]
POETRY: St. Peter, by Christina Rossetti
St. Peter once: “Lord, doest Thou wash my feet?”— Much more I say: Lord, dost Thou stand and knock At my closed heart more rugged than a rock, Bolted and barred, for Thy soft touch unmet, Nor garnished in any wise made sweet? Owls roost within and dancing satyrs mock. Lord, I have heard the crowing of the cock And have not wept: ah, Lord, thou knowest it. Yet still I hear Thee knocking, still I hear: “Open to Me, look on Me eye to eye, That I may wring thy heart and make it whole; And teach thee love because I hold thee dear And sup with thee in gladness soul with soul, And sup with thee in glory by and [...]
POETRY: What Good Shall My Life Do Me? by Christina Rossetti
Have dead men long to wait?— There is a certain term For their bodies to the worm And their souls at Heaven gate. Dust to dust, clod to clod, These precious things of God, Trampled underfoot by man And beast the appointed years.— Their longest life was but a span For change and smiles and tears. Is it worth while to live, Rejoice and grieve, Hope, fear, and die? Man with man, truth with lie, The slow show dwindles by: At last what shall we have Besides a grave?— Lies and shows no more, No fear, no pain, But after hope and sleep Dear joys again. Those who sowed shall reap: Those who bore The Cross shall wear the Crown: Those who clomb the steep There shall sit down. The Shepherd of the sheep Feeds His flock there, In watered pastures [...]
POETRY: Experience Bows A Sweet Contented Face by Christina Rossetti
Experience bows a sweet contented face. Still setting to her seal that God is true: Beneath the sun, she knows, is nothing new; All things that go return with measured pace, Winds, rivers, man’s still recommencing race:— While Hope beyond Earth’s circle strains her view. Past sun and moon, and rain and rainbow too, Enamored of unseen eternal grace. Experience saith, “My God doth all things well”: And for the morrow taketh little care, Such peace and patience garrison her soul:— While Hope, who never yet hath eyes the goal, With arms flung forth, and backward-floating hair. Touches, embraces, hugs the [...]
POETRY: Later Life—A Double Sonnet Of Sonnets, by Christina Rossetti
1. Before the mountains were brought forth, before Earth and the world were made, then God was God: And God will still be God, when flames shall roar Round Earth and Heaven dissolving at His nod: And this God is our God, even while His rod Of righteous wrath falls on us smiting sore: And this God is our God for evermore Through life, through death, while clod returns to clod. For though He slay us we will trust in Him; We will flock home to Him by divers ways: Yea, though He slay us we will vaunt His praise, Serving and loving with the Cherubim, Watching and loving with the Seraphim, Our very selves His praise through endless days. 2. Rend hearts and rend not garments for our sins; Gird sackcloth not on body but on soul; Grovel in dust [...]
POETRY: Let Everything That Hath Breath Praise The Lord by Christina Rossetti
All that we see rejoices in the sunshine, All that we hear makes merry in the Spring: God grant us such a mind to be glad after our kind, And to sing His praises for everything. Much that we see must vanish with the sunshine, Sweet Spring must fail, and fail the choir of Spring: But Wisdom shall burn on when the lesser lights are gone, And shall sing God’s praises evermore for [...]
POETRY: A Christmas Carol by Christina Rossetti
In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago. Our God, Heaven, cannot hold him Nor Earth sustain; Heaven and Earth shall flee away When he comes to reign: In the bleak midwinter A stable-place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Enough for him, whom cherubim Worship night and day, A breastful of milk And a mangerful of hay; Enough for him, whom angels Fall down before, The ox and ass and camel Which adore. Angels and archangels May have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim Thronged the air; But only his mother In her maiden bliss Worshiped the Beloved With a kiss. What can I give him, Poor as I am? If I [...]
POETRY: Called To Be Saints, by Christina Rossetti
The lowest place. Ah, Lord, how steep and high That lowest place whereon a saint shall sit! Which of us halting, trembling, pressing nigh, Shall quite attain to it? Yet, Lord, Thou pressest nigh to hail and grace Some happy soul, it may be still unfit For Right Hand or for Left Hand, but whose place Waits there prepared for [...]
POETRY: Who Shall Deliver Me?, by Christina Rossetti
God strengthen me to bear myself; That heaviest weight of all to bear, Inalienable weight of care. All others are outside myself; I lock my door and bar them out The turmoil, tedium, gad-about. I lock my door upon myself, And bar them out; but who shall wall Self from myself, most loathed of all? If I could once lay down myself, And start self-purged upon the race That all must run ! Death runs apace. If I could set aside myself, And start with lightened heart upon The road by all men overgone! God harden me against myself, This coward with pathetic voice Who craves for ease and rest and joys; Myself, arch-traitor to myself; My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, My clog whatever road I go. Yet One there is can curb myself, Can roll the [...]
POETRY: Easter Monday, by Christina Rossetti
Out in the rain a world is growing green, On half the trees quick buds are seen Where glued-up buds have been. Out in the rain God’s Acre stretches green, Its harvest quick tho’ still unseen: For there the Life hath been. If Christ hath died His brethren well may die, Sing in the gate of death, lay by This life without a sigh: For Christ hath died and good it is to die; To sleep whenso He lays us by, Then wake without a sigh. Yea, Christ hath died, yea, Christ is risen again: Wherefore both life and death grow plain To us who wax and wane; For Christ who rose shall die no more again: Amen: till He makes all things plain Let us wax on and [...]
POETRY: At Last, by Christina Rossetti
Many have sung of love a root of bane: While to my mind a root of balm it is, or love at length breeds love; sufficient bliss For life and death and rising up again. Surely when light of Heaven makes all things plain, Love will grow plain with all its mysteries; Nor shall we need to fetch from over seas Wisdom or wealth or pleasure safe from pain. Love in our borders, love within our heart, Love all in all, we then shall bide at rest, Ended for ever life’s unending quest, Ended for ever effort, change and fear: Love all in all; —no more that better part Purchased, but at the cost of all things [...]
POETRY: Love Loveth Thee, And Wisdom Loveth Thee, by Christina Rossetti
Love loveth Thee, and wisdom loveth Thee: The love that loveth Thee sits satisfied; Wisdom that loveth Thee grows million-eyed, Learning what was, and is, and is to be. Wisdom and love are glad of all they see; Their heart is deep, their hope is not denied; They rock at rest on time’s unresting tide, And wait to rest thro’ long eternity. Wisdom and love and rest, each holy soul Hath these today while day is only night: What shall souls have when morning brings to light Love, wisdom, rest, God’s treasure stored above? Palm shall they have, and harp and aureole, Wisdom, rest, love—and lo! the whole is [...]
POETRY: Despised And Rejected, by Christina Georgina Rossetti
My sun has set, I dwell In darkness as a dead man out of sight; And none remains, not one, that I should tell To him mine evil plight This bitter night. I will make fast my door That hollow friends may trouble me no more. “Friend, open to Me.”—Who is this that calls? Nay, I am deaf as are my walls: Cease crying, for I will not hear Thy cry of hope or fear. Others were dear, Others forsook me: what art thou indeed That I should heed Thy lamentable need? Hungry should feed, Or stranger lodge thee here? “Friend, My Feet bleed. Open thy door to Me and comfort Me.” I will not open, trouble me no more. Go on thy way footsore, I will not rise and open unto thee. “Then is it nothing to thee? Open, see Who stands to [...]
POETRY: Good Friday by Christina Rossetti
Am I a stone, and not a sheep, That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and Moon Which hid their faces in a starless sky, A horror of great darkness at broad noon— I, only I. Yet give not o’er, But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock; Greater than Moses, turn and look once more And smite a [...]
POETRY: Twice, by Christina Rossetti
I took my heart in my hand, (O my love, O my love), I said: Let me fall or stand, Let me live or die, But this once hear me speak (O my love, O my love)— Yet a woman’s words are weak; You should speak, not I. You took my heart in your hand With a friendly smile, With a critical eye you scann’d, Then set it down, And said: “It is still unripe, Better wait awhile; Wait while the skylarks pipe, Till the corn grows brown.” As you set it down it broke— Broke, but I did not wince; I smiled at the speech you spoke, At your judgment I heard: But I have not often smiled Since then, nor question’d since, Nor cared for cornflowers wild, Nor sung with the singing bird. I take my heart in my hand, O my God, O my God, My broken heart in my [...]
The Value of Sparrows 