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 DONALD PRITCH€TT 
 
 B€AN 
 
 
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 University of California • Berkeley- 
 
 Mr. 
 
 Gift of 
 & Mrs. Donald P. Bean 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/blesseddamozelpoOOrossrich 
 
THE 
 BLESSED DAMOZEL- A POEM 
 by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 
 REPRINTED FROM THE GERM 
 
NOTE 
 
 ^TKe portrait of Rossetti Kere given 
 as frontispiece is from tke painting by 
 G.F.\Vatts. ^^TKe Blessed Damozer 
 facing verses X and XI is from tke 
 painting by Rossetti made for Lord 
 Mount'^Temple in 1874. 
 
THE BLESSED 
 DAMOZEL 
 
 [HE BLESSED 
 DAMOZEL 
 leaned out 
 From the gold 
 bar of Heaven: 
 Her blue 
 grave eyes ^vere deeper 
 much 
 
 Than a deep water, even. 
 She had three lilies in her 
 hand. 
 And the ^ars in her hair were seven. 
 
II 
 
 ^HER ROBE, UNGIRT FROM 
 
 clasp to hem. 
 
 No wrought flov/ers did adorn. 
 
 But a white rose of Mary's gift 
 
 On the neck meetly worn; 
 
 And her hair, lying do^vn her back. 
 
 Was yellov/ like ripe corn. 
 
 Ill 
 ^HERSEEMED SHE SCARCE 
 had been a day 
 One of God's chorii^ers; 
 The wonder was not yet quite gone 
 From that i^ill look of her's; 
 Albeit to them she left, her day 
 Had counted as ten years. 
 
IV 
 ®(TO ONE IT IS TEN YEARS 
 of years: 
 
 .... Yet now, here in this place. 
 Surely she leaned o'er me, — her hair 
 
 Fell all about my face 
 
 Nothing: the Autumn^fall of leaves. 
 The v^hole year sets apace.) 
 
 V 
 mr W\S THE TERRACE OF 
 God's house 
 
 That she was landing on, — 
 By God built over the sheer depth 
 In ^vhich Space is begun; 
 So high, that looking do^vnward 
 thence. 
 She could scarce see the sun. 
 
VI 
 ^IT LIES FROM HEAVEN 
 across tlie flood 
 Of ether, as a bridge. 
 Beneatk, the tides of day and night 
 W^ith flame and blackness ridge 
 The void, as lo^v as ^svhere this earth 
 Spins hke a fretful midge. 
 
 VII 
 ^BUT IN THOSE TRACTS, 
 with her, it was 
 The peace of utter light 
 And silence. For no breeze may ^ir 
 Along the lAeady flight 
 Of seraphim; no echo there. 
 Beyond all depth or height. 
 
VIII 
 ^HEARD HARDLY, SOME OF 
 her new friends. 
 Playing at holy games. 
 Spake, gentle^'mouthed, among 
 themselves. 
 
 Their virginal chaise names ; 
 And the souls, mounting up to God, 
 Went by her like thin flames. 
 
 IX 
 ^AND STILL SHE BOWED 
 herself, and looped 
 Into the va^ wa^e calm; 
 Till her bosom's pressure mu^ have 
 made 
 
 The bar she leaned on warm. 
 And the lihes lay as if asleep 
 Along her bended arm. 
 
X 
 
 ^FROM THE FIXT LULL OF 
 
 heaven, sKe saw 
 
 Time, like a pxilse, shake fierce 
 
 Through all the worlds. Her gaze 
 
 i^ill ^rove. 
 
 In that ^eep gulph, to pierce 
 
 The swarm: and then she spake, 
 
 as when 
 
 The jAars sang in their spheres. 
 
 XI 
 m-l V/ISH THAT HE WERE 
 come to me. 
 
 For he ^11 come," she said. 
 ""Have I not prayed in solemn heaven? 
 On earth, has he not prayed? 
 Are not tsvo prayers a perfedt ^rength? 
 And shall I feel afraid? 
 
XII 
 «-V/HEN ROUND HIS HEAD 
 the aureole clings. 
 And lie is clothed in ^vhite, 
 m take his hand, and go with him 
 To the deep w^ells of light. 
 And ^ve ^vill ^ep dov/n as to a 
 ^ream 
 And bathe there in God's sight. 
 
 XIII 
 ^-^VE TWO WILL STAND 
 beside that shrine. 
 Occult, v^ithheld, untrod. 
 Whose lamps tremble continually 
 M/ith prayer sent up to God; 
 And where each need, revealed, 
 expects 
 Its patient period. 
 
XIV 
 ^-V/E TWO WILL LIE F THE 
 shadow o£ 
 
 That living mystic tree 
 V/ithin whose secret grow^th the Dove 
 Sometimes is felt to be, 
 W^hile every leaf that His plumes 
 touch 
 Saith His name audibly. 
 
 XV 
 ^- AND I MYSELF V/ILL 
 teach to him — 
 I nayself, lying so, — 
 The songs I sing here ; which his 
 mouth 
 
 Shall pause in, hushed and slow. 
 Finding some kno^edge at each pause 
 And some new thing to know/' 
 
XVI 
 ®(ALAS! TO HER V/ISE 
 simple mind 
 
 These things v^ere all but known 
 Before : they trembled on her 
 sense, — 
 
 Her voice had caught their tone. 
 Alas for lonely Heaven! Alas 
 For life ^vrung out alone ! 
 
 XVII 
 « ALAS, AND THOUGH THE 
 end were reached? . . . 
 Was THY part underwood 
 Or borne in trui^? And for her sake 
 Shall this too be found good? — 
 May the close lips that knew not 
 prayer 
 Praise ever, though they would?) 
 
XVIII 
 
 ^- WE rvs/or SHE said, 
 
 ''will seek tlie groves 
 
 Where tke lady Mary is, 
 
 W^itK Ker five handmaidens, ^vKose 
 
 names 
 
 Are five sweet symphonies : — 
 
 Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen, 
 
 Margaret and Rosalys. 
 
 XIX 
 ^-CIRCLE^\VISE SIT THEY, 
 
 ^vith bound locks 
 
 And bosoms covered; 
 
 Into the fine cloth, ^vhite like flame, 
 
 W^eaving the golden thread. 
 
 To fashion the birth'^robes for them 
 
 Who are ju^ born, being dead. 
 
XX 
 
 ^-HE SHALL FEAR HAPLY, 
 
 and be dumb. 
 
 Then I ^vill lay my cheek 
 
 To his, and tell about our love. 
 
 Not once abashed or \veak: 
 
 And the dear Mother ^vill approve 
 
 My pride, and let me speak. 
 
 XXI 
 ^-HERSELF SHALL BRING 
 us, hand in hand. 
 To Him round whom all souls 
 Kneel — the unnumbered solemn 
 heads 
 
 Bo^ved ^vith their aureoles : 
 And Angels, meeting us, shall sing 
 To their citherns and citoles. 
 
XXII 
 ^-THERE \VILL I ASK OF 
 Ckri^ tke Lord 
 Thus much for him and me : — 
 To have more blessing than on earth 
 In nowise; but to be 
 As then we were, — being as then 
 At peace. Yea, verily. 
 
 XXIII 
 ^-YEA, VERILY; WHEN HE 
 is come 
 
 V/e ^vill do thus and thus : 
 Till this my vigil seem quite Grange 
 And almo^ fabulous; 
 ^Ve tsvo v/ill live at once, one life; 
 And peace shall be v^ith us.'' 
 
XXIV 
 ^SHE GAZED, AND LISTEN^ 
 ed, and then said. 
 Less sad of speech than mild; 
 ''All this is w^hen he comes/' She 
 ceased : 
 
 The hght thrilled pa^ her, filled 
 "W^ith Angels, in ^rong level lapse. 
 Her eyes prayed, and she smiled. 
 
 XXV 
 «(I SAW HER SMILE.) BUT 
 soon their flight 
 
 Was vague 'mid the poised spheres. 
 And then she ca^ her arms along 
 The golden barriers. 
 And laid her face between her 
 hands. 
 And wept. (I heard her tears.) 
 
HERE ENDS 
 THE BLESSED DAMOZEL- BY 
 DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI- 
 REPRINTED FROM THE GERM 
 FOR FEBRUARY MDCCC-L 
 PRINTED & BOUND BY FRED 
 ^V• AND BERTHA M- GOUDY 
 AT THE VILLAGE PRESS- no 
 COPIES PRINTED 98 FOR SALE 
 
 Park Ridge, Illinois, December, 1903