Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Insomnia
1Thin are the night-skirts left behind
2 By daybreak hours that onward creep,
3 And thin, alas! the shred of sleep
4That wavers with the spirit's wind:
5But in half-dreams that shift and roll
6 And still remember and forget,
7My soul this hour has drawn your soul
8 A little nearer yet.
9Our lives, most dear, are never near,
10 Our thoughts are never far apart,
11 Though all that draws us heart to heart
12Seems fainter now and now more clear.
13To-night Love claims his full control,
14 And with desire and with regret
15My soul this hour has drawn your soul
16 A little nearer yet.
17Is there a home where heavy earth
18 Melts to bright air that breathes no pain,
19 Where water leaves no thirst again
20And springing fire is Love's new birth?
21If faith long bound to one true goal
22 May there at length its hope beget,
23My soul that hour shall draw your soul
24 For ever nearer yet.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ballads and Sonnets (London: Ellis and White, 1881). PR 5244 B2 1881 ROBA end R677 B355 1881 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date:
1881
RPO poem editor: Margaret Frances (Sister St. Francis) Nims
RP edition: 3RP 3.284.
Recent editing: 2:2002/3/13
Rhyme: abbacdcd
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