Christina Georgina Rossetti Death Poems

The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept
And strewn with rushes, rosemary and may
Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay,
...

Chide not; let me breathe a little,
For I shall not mourn him long;
Though the life-cord was so brittle,
...

Ah! changed and cold, how changed and very cold,
With stiffened smiling lips and cold calm eyes:
Changed, yet the same; much knowing, little wise;
...

Life is not sweet. One day it will be sweet
To shut our eyes and die:
Nor feel the wild flowers blow, nor birds dart by
...

The sweetest blossoms die.
And so it was that, going day by day
Unto the church to praise and pray,
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Who shall tell the lady's grief
When her Cat was past relief?
Who shall number the hot tears
Shed o'er her, beloved for years?
...