Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/413

THE THREAD OF LIFE.

1.

THE irresponsive silence of the land, The irresponsive sounding of the sea, Speak both one message of one sense to me:—Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so standThou too aloof bound with the flawless band Of inner solitude; we bind not thee; But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand?—And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek, And sometimes I remember days of oldWhen fellowship seemed not so far to seek And all the world and I seemed much less cold, And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,And hope felt strong and life itself not weak,

2.

Thus am I mine own prison. Everything Around me free and sunny and at ease: Or if in shadow, in a shade of treesWhich the sun kisses, where the gay birds singAnd where all winds make various murmuring;