RPO -- Christina Rossetti : Song

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Song

1She sat and sang alway

2 By the green margin of a stream,

3Watching the fishes leap and play

4 Beneath the glad sunbeam.

5I sat and wept alway

6 Beneath the moon's most shadowy beam,

7Watching the blossoms of the May

8 Weep leaves into the stream.

9I wept for memory;

10 She sang for hope that is so fair:

11My tears were swallowed by the sea;

12 Her songs died on the air.

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: Poems of Christina Rossetti, ed. William M. Rossetti (London: Macmillan, 1904), 290.
First publication date: 1862
RPO poem editor: Marc R. Plamondon
RP edition: 2006
Recent editing: 2:2006/1/21

Composition date: 26 November 1848
Rhyme: abab

Other poems by Christina Rossetti