Religion

Piteous my rhyme is

by Christina Rossetti 1830–1894

From Verses (1893)

Religion

Piteous my rhyme is
What while I muse of love and pain,
Of love misspent, of love in vain,
Of love that is not loved again:
And is this all then?
As long as time is,
Love loveth. Time is but a span,
The dalliance space of dying man:
And is this all immortals can?
The gain were small then.

Love loves for ever,
And finds a sort of joy in pain,
And gives with nought to take again,
And loves too well to end in vain:
Is the gain small then?
Love laughs at “never,”
Outlives our life, exceeds the span
Appointed to mere mortal man:
All which love is and does and can
Is all in all then.

✦ ✦ ✦

Verses (1893), section: Some Feasts and Fasts / Quinquagesima.

MLA

Rossetti, Christina. “Piteous my rhyme is.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/rossetti_c/661/.

Chicago

Rossetti, Christina. “Piteous my rhyme is.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/rossetti_c/661/.

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