Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/287

Gone as if never
 They had toiled or trod,
Gone out of sight of all
 Except our God.

Shut into silence
 From the accustomed song,
Shut into solitude
 From all earth's throng,
Run down though swift of foot,
 Thrust down though strong:
Life made an end of,
 Seemed it short or long.

Life made an end of,
 Life but just begun;
Life finished yesterday,
 Its last sand run
Life new-born with the morrow,
 Fresh as the sun:
While done is done for ever;
 Undone, undone.

And if that life is life,
 This is but a breath,
The passage of a dream
 And the shadow of death;
But a vain shadow
 If one considereth;
Vanity of vanities,
 As the Preacher saith.