English Poetry at the Poetry Monster. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poem The House of Life. Sonnet 90. ‘Retro Me, Sathana!’.

Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 90. ‘Retro Me, Sathana!’

Get thee behind me. Even as, heavy-curled,
Stooping against the wind, a charioteer
Is snatched from out his chariot by the hair,
So shall Time be; and as the void car, hurled
Abroad by reinless steeds, even so the world:
Yea, even as chariot-dust upon the air,
It shall be sought and not found anywhere.
Get thee behind me, Satan. Oft unfurled,

Thy perilous wings can beat and break like lath
Much mightiness of men to win thee praise.
Leave these weak feet to tread in narrow ways.
Thou still, upon the broad vine-sheltered path,
Mayst wait the turning of the phials of wrath
For certain years, for certain months and days.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s other poems:

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 17. Beauty’s Pageant
2. The Staff and Scrip
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 35. The Lamp’s Shrine
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 92. The Sun’s Shame – 1
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 21. Love-Sweetness

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