Poems (Rossetti, 1901)/"Behold a shaking"
"BEHOLD A SHAKING."
1.
MAN rising to the doom that shall not err,— Which hath most dread: the arouse of all or each; All kindreds of all nations of all speech,Or one by one of him and him and her?While dust reanimate begins to stir Here, there, beyond, beyond, reach beyond reach; While every wave refashions on the beachAlive or dead-in-life some seafarer.Now meeting doth not join or parting part; True meeting and true parting wait till then, When whoso meet are joined for evermore,Face answering face and heart at rest in heart:— God bring us all rejoicing to the shore Of happy Heaven, His sheep home to the pen.
2.
Blessed that flock safe penned in Paradise; Blessed this flock which tramps in weary ways; All form one flock, God's flock; all yield Him praiseBy joy or pain, still tending toward the prize.Joy speaks in praises there, and sings and flies Where no night is, exulting all its days; Here, pain finds solace, for, behold, it prays;In both love lives the life that never dies.Here life is the beginning of our death, And death the starting-point whence life ensues; Surely our life is death, our death is life: Nor need we lay to heart our peace or strife,But calm in faith and patience breathe the breath God gave, to take again when He shall choose.