Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/306

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278
FROM HOUSE TO HOME.
"My love no more," I muttered, stunned with pain;
I shed no tear, I wrung no passionate hand,
Till something whispered: "You shall meet again,
Meet in a distant land."

Then with a cry like famine I arose,
I lit my candle, searched from room to room,
Searched up and down; a war of winds that froze
Swept through the blank of gloom.

I searched day after day, night after night;
Scant change there came to me of night or day:
"No more," I wailed, "no more:" and trimmed my light,
And gnashed but did not pray.

Until my heart broke and my spirit broke:
Upon the frost-bound floor I stumbled, fell,
And moaned: " t is enough: withhold the stroke.
Farewell, O love, farewell."

Then life swooned from me. And I heard the song
Of spheres and spirits rejoicing over me:
One cried: "Our sister, she hath suffered long."—
One answered: "Make her see."—

One cried: "Oh blessed she who no more pain,
Who no more disappointment shall receive."—
One answered: "Not so: she must live again;
Strengthen thou her to live."