Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription
Document Title: Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature T (Delaware Museum, first
author's proof)
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of publication: 1881 May 6
Publisher: F. S. Ellis
Printer: Chiswick Press, C. Whittingham and Co.
Issue: 1
The
full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.
page: 273
Manuscript Addition: 1
Editorial Description: Printer's proof number added in upper left.
Manuscript Addition: [Charles Whittingham's printer date stamp, 6 May 81]
- The thing thou hast not dared to do!. . . .
- Behold, this
may be thus! Ere true
- It prove, arise and bear thy yoke.
- Let lo
v
re of all Theology
- Be to thy soul what it
can be:
- But know,—the Power that fashions man
- Measured not out thy little span
- For thee to take the meting-rod
- In turn, and so approve on God
-
10Thy science of Theometry.
- Didst ever say, “Lo, I forget”?
- Such thought was to remember yet.
-
20As in a gravegarth, count to see
- The monuments of memory.
- Be this thy soul's appointed scope:—
- Gaze onward without claim to hope,
- Nor, gazing backward, court regret.
page: 275
Deleted Text
- Amber jewel and amethyst,
- And all for my lady's wrist.
- The amethyst and the amber fair,
- And all for my lady's hair.
- Argent amber and amethyst,
- And all for my lady's wrist.
- Argent's heavy and amber rare,
- And all for my lady's hair.
page: 276
Note: WMR has checked off lines 1 and 5 to indicate the discrepancy in the
final word's hyphenation (or lack thereof).
- A honey-cell's in the honeysuckle,
- And the honey-bee knows it well.
- The honey-comb has a heart of honey,
- And the humming bee's so bonny.
- A honey-flower's the honey-suckle,
- And the bee's in the honey-bell.
- The honey-suckle is sucked of honey,
- And the bee is heavy and bonny.
- Honey-flowers to the honey-comb
- And the honey-bee's from home.
page: 277
- A honey-comb and a honey-flower,
- And the bee shall have his hour.
- A honeyed heart for the honey-comb,
- And the humming bee flies home.
- A heavy heart in the honey-flower,
- And the bee has had his hour.
- Brown shell first for the butterfly
- And a bright wing by and by.
- Butterfly, good-bye to your shell,
- And, bright wings, speed you well.
page: 278
- Bright lamplight for the butterfly
- And a burnt wing by and by.
- Butterfly, alas for your shell,
- And, bright wings, fare you well.
- Lost love-labour and lullaby,
- And lowly let love lie.
- Lost love-morrow and love-fellow
- And love's life lying low.
- Lovelorn labour and life laid by
- And lowly let love lie.
page: 279
- Late love-longing and life-sorrow
- And love's life lying low.
- Beauty's body and benison
- With a bosom-flower new-blown.
- Bitter beauty and blessing bann'd
- With a breast to burn and brand.
- Beauty's bower in the dust o'erblown
- With a bare white breast of bone.
- Barren beauty and bower of sand
- With a blast on either hand.
page: 280
- Buried bars in the breakwater
- And bubble of the brimming weir.
- Body's blood in the breakwater
- And a buried body's bier.
- Buried bones in the breakwater
- And bubble of the brawling weir.
- Bitter tears in the breakwater
- And a breaking heart to bear.
- Hollow heaven and the hurricane
- And hurry of the heavy rain.
page: 281
- Hurried clouds in the hollow heaven
- And a heavy rain hard-driven.
- The heavy rain it hurries amain
- And heaven and the hurricane.
- Hurrying wind o'er the heaven's hollow
- And the heavy rain to follow.
page: 282
- Love, I speak to your heart,
- Your heart that is always here
,
.
- Oh draw me deep to its sphere,
- Though you and I are apart;
- And yield, by the spirit's art,
- Each distant gift that is dear.
- O love, my love, you are here!
- Your eyes are afar to-day,
- Yet, love, look now in mine eyes.
-
10 Two hearts sent forth may despise
page: 283
- All dead things by the way.
- All between is decay,
- Dead hours and this hour that dies,
- O love, look deep in mine eyes!
- Your hands to-day are not here,
- Yet lay them, love, in my hands.
- The hourglass sheds its sands
- All day for the dead hours' bier;
- But now, as two hearts draw near,
-
20 This hour like a flower expands.
- O love, your hands in my hands!
- Your voice is not on the air,
- Yet, love, I can hear your voice:
- It bids my heart to rejoice
page: 284
Manuscript Addition: Qy. draw
Editorial Description: WMR's marginal query at line 30, with suggested revision.
- As knowing your heart is there,—
- A music sweet to declare
- The truth of your steadfast choice.
- O love, how sweet is your voice!
- To-day your lips are afar,
-
30 Yet
press
draw my lips to them, love,
- Around, beneath, and above,
- Is frost to bind and to bar;
- But where I am and you are,
- Desire and the fire thereof.
- O kiss me, kiss me, my love!
- Your heart is never away,
- But ever with mine, for ever,
- For ever without endeavour,
page: 285
- To-morrow, love, as to-day;
-
40Two blent hearts never astray,
- Two souls no power may sever,
- Together, O my love, for ever!
page: 286
- Leaves and rain and the days of the year,
- (
Water-willow and wellaway,)
- All these fall, and my soul gives ear,
- And she is hence who once was here.
- (
With a wind blown night and
day
.)
- Ah! but now, for a secret sign,
- (
The willow's wan and the water
white
,)
- In the held breath of the day's decline
- Her very face seemed pressed to mine.
-
10 (
With a wind blown day and
night
.)
page: 287
- O love, of my death my life is fain;
- (
The willows wave on the water-way,)
- Your cheek and mine are cold in the rain,
- But warm they'll be when we meet again.
- (
With a wind blown night and
day
.)
- Mists are heaved and cover the sky;
- (
The willows wail in the waning
light
,)
- O loose your lips, leave space for a sigh,—
- They seal my soul, I cannot die.
-
20 (
With a wind blown day and
night
.)
- Leaves and rain and the days of the year,
- (
Water-willow and wellaway,)
- All still fall, and I still give ear,
- And she is hence, and I am here.
- (
With a wind blown night and
day
.)
page: 288
- In this new shade of Death, the show
- Passes me still of form and face;
- Some bent, some gazing as they go,
- Some swiftly, some at a dull pace,
- Not one that speaks in any case.
- If only one might speak!—the one
- Who never waits till I come near;
- But always seated all alone
- As listening to the sunken air,
-
10 Is gone before I come to her.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1