Place De La Bastille, Paris

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



How dear the sky has been above this place!
Small treasures of this sky that we see here
Seen weak through prison-bars from year to year;
Eyed with a painful prayer upon God's grace
To save, and tears which stayed along the face
Lifted at sunset. Yea, how passing dear
Those nights when through the bars a wind left clear
The heaven, and moonlight soothed the limpid space!
So was it, till one night the secret kept
Safe in low vault and stealthy corridor
Was blown abroad on gospel-tongues of flame.
O ways of God, mysterious evermore!
How many on this spot have cursed and wept
That all might stand here now and own Thy Name.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 30, 2023

35 sec read
55

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCAACCADEFGDF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 635
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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