English Poetry at the Poetry Monster. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poem A Death-Parting.

Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

A Death-Parting

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.
(With a wind blown day and night.)
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.
(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.) 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s other poems:

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 17. Beauty’s Pageant
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 35. The Lamp’s Shrine
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 21. Love-Sweetness
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 50. Willowwood – 2
5. The Staff and Scrip

The Last Poems

To the Russian version

Try english.poetry.monster – a standalone website dedicated to Anglophone poetry from around the world.

Poetry In English