Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/981

This page needs to be proofread.

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

'When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white, I'll take his hand and go with him To the deep wells of light; As unto a stream we will step down, And bathe there in God's sight.

We two will stand beside that shrine, Occult, withheld, untrod, Whose lamps arc stirred continually With prayer sent up to God, And see our old prayers, granted, melt Each like a little cloud.

'We two will lie i' the shadow of That living mystic tree, Within whose secret growth the Dove Is sometimes felt to be, While every leaf that His plumes touch Saith His Name audibly.

'And I mvsclf will teach to him, I myself, lying so, The songs I sing here , which his voice Shall pause in, hush'd and slow, And find some knowledge at each pause, Or some new thing to know.'

(Alas ! We two, we two, thou say'st ! Yea, one wast thou with me That once of old. But shall God lift To endless unity The soul whose likeness with thy soul Was but its love for thee ? )

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.