Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 47. Broken Music

The mother will not turn, who thinks she hears
Her nursling's speech first grow articulate;
But breathless with averted eyes elate
She sits, with open lips and open ears,
That it may call her twice. 'Mid doubts and fears
Thus oft my soul has hearkened; till the song,
A central moan for days, at length found tongue,
And the sweet music welled and the sweet tears.

But now, whatever while the soul is fain
To list that wonted murmur, as it were
The speech-bound sea-shell's low importunate strain, -
No breath of song, thy voice alone is there,
O bitterly beloved! and all her gain
Is but the pang of unpermitted prayer. 

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 99. Newborn Death - 1
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 26. Mid-Rapture
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 31. Her Gifts
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 38. The Morrow's Message

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