Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 99. Newborn Death - 1

To-day Death seems to me an infant child
Which her worn mother Life upon my knee
Has set to grow my friend and play with me;
If haply so my heart might be beguil'd
To find no terrors in a face so mild,
If haply so my weary heart might be
Unto the newborn milky eyes of thee,
O Death, before resentment reconcil'd.

How long, O Death? And shall thy feet depart
Still a young child's with mine, or wilt thou stand
Fullgrown the helpful daughter of my heart,
What time with thee indeed I reach the strand
Of the pale wave which knows thee what thou art,
And drink it in the hollow of thy hand?

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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