Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/308

Then marked I how a chain sustained her form,
 A chain of living links not made nor riven:
It stretched sheer up through lightning, wind and storm,
 And anchored fast in heaven.

One cried: "How long? yet founded on the Rock
 She shall do battle, suffer, and attain."—
One answered: "Faith quakes in the tempest shock:
 Strengthen her soul again."

I saw a cup sent down and come to her
 Brimfull of loathing and of bitterness:
She drank with livid lips that seemed to stir
 The depth, not make it less.

But as she drank I spied a hand distil
 New wine and virgin honey; making it
First bitter-sweet, then sweet indeed, until
 She tasted only sweet.

Her lips and cheeks waxed rosy-fresh and young;
 Drinking she sang: "My soul shall nothing want;"
And drank anew: while soft a song was sung,
 A mystical slow chant.

One cried: "The wounds are faithful of a friend:
 The wilderness shall blossom as a rose."—
One answered:"Rend the veil, declare the end,
 Strengthen her ere she goes."