Christina Rossetti, Song

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

[1830–1894]

Song

Born in London into a literary family (her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the Pre-Raphaelite group), Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) began writing poetry at an early age. Ill health saved her from a career as a governess; instead she nursed her ailing father and worked at the St. Mary Magdalene Home for Fallen Women. Rossetti’s strong Anglican religiosity led her to give up theater and opera and turn down two offers of marriage. She wrote six collections of poetry as well as short stories, nursery rhymes, and religious essays.

When I am dead, my dearest,

Sing no sad songs for me;

Plant thou no roses at my head,

Nor shady cypress tree:

Be the green grass above me

With showers and dewdrops wet;

And if thou wilt, remember,

And if thou wilt, forget.

 

I shall not see the shadows,

I shall not feel the rain;

I shall not hear the nightingale

Sing on, as if in pain:

And dreaming through the twilight

That doth not rise nor set,

Haply I may remember,

And haply may forget.