Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828–82

From “The House of Life: a Sonnet-Sequence.” V. Without Her

RossetDG

WHAT of her glass without her? The blank gray

There where the pool is blind of the moon’s face.

Her dress without her? The toss’d empty space

Of cloud-rack whence the moon has pass’d away.

Her paths without her? Day’s appointed sway

Usurp’d by desolate night. Her pillow’d place

Without her? Tears, ah me! for love’s good grace,

And cold forgetfulness of night or day.

What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart,

Of thee what word remains ere speech be still?

A wayfarer by barren ways and chill,

Steep ways and weary, without her thou art,

Where the long cloud, the long wood’s counterpart,

Sheds doubled darkness up the laboring hill.