Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Fiammetta

BEHOLD Fiammetta, shown in Vision here.
Gloom-girt 'mid Spring-flushed apple-growth she stands;
And as she sways the branches with her hands,
Along her arm the sundered bloom falls sheer,
In separate petals shed, each like a tear;
While from the quivering bough the bird expands
His wings. And lo! thy spirit understands
Life shaken and shower'd and flown, and Death drawn near.
All stirs with change. Her garments beat the air:
The angel circling round her aureole
Shimmers in flight against the tree's grey bole:
While she, with reassuring eyes most fair,
A presage and a promise stands; as 'twere
On Death's dark storm the rainbow of the Soul. 

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 26. Mid-Rapture
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 31. Her Gifts
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 38. The Morrow's Message
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 61. The Song-Throe

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