Religion

Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt

by Christina Rossetti 1830–1894

From Verses (1893)

Religion

Nerve us with patience, Lord, to toil or rest,
Toiling at rest on our allotted level;
Unsnarled, unsacred by world or flesh or devil,
Fulfilling the good Will of Thy behest:
Not careful here to hoard, not here to revel;
But waiting for our treasure and our zest
Beyond the fading splendour of the west,
Beyond this deathstruck life and deathlier evil.
Not with the sparrow building here a house:
But with the swallow tabernacling so
As still to poise alert to rise and go
On eager wings with wing-outspeeding wills
Beyond earth’s gourds and past her almond boughs,
Past utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

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Verses (1893), section: Out of the Deep Have I Called unto Thee, O Lord.

MLA

Rossetti, Christina. “Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/rossetti_c/585/.

Chicago

Rossetti, Christina. “Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/rossetti_c/585/.

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