Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Christina Georgina Rossetti. 18301894789. Rest
O EARTH, lie heavily upon her eyes; | |
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth; | |
Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth | |
With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs. | |
She hath no questions, she hath no replies, | 5 |
Hush’d in and curtain’d with a blessèd dearth | |
Of all that irk’d her from the hour of birth; | |
With stillness that is almost Paradise. | |
Darkness more clear than noonday holdeth her, | |
Silence more musical than any song; | 10 |
Even her very heart has ceased to stir: | |
Until the morning of Eternity | |
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be; | |
And when she wakes she will not think it long. |