From child to youth; from youth to arduous man;
From lethargy to fever of the heart;
From faithful life to dream-dower'd days apart;
From trust to doubt; from doubt to brink of ban;--
Thus much of change in one swift cycle ran
Till now. Alas, the soul!--how soon must she
Accept her primal immortality,--
The flesh resume its dust whence it began?
O Lord of work and peace! O Lord of life!
O Lord, the awful Lord of will! though late,
Even yet renew this soul with duteous breath:
That when the peace is garner'd in from strife,
The work retriev'd, the will regenerate,
This soul may see thy face, O Lord of death!
More verses by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
- The Gloom That Breathes Upon Me
- The House Of Life: 71. The Choice, I
- The House Of Life: 22. Heart's Haven
- Tiber, Nile, And Thames
- The House Of The Life: Silent Noon