A Pause of Thought

by Christina Rossetti

 

I looked for that which is not, nor can be,
     And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth :
     But years must pass before a hope of youth
        Is resigned utterly.
 
I watched and waited with a steadfast will :
     And though the object seemed to flee away
     That I so longed for, ever day by day
        I watched and waited still.
 
Sometimes I said : ‘This thing shall be no more ;
     My expectation wearies and shall cease ;
     I will resign it now and be at peace’:
        Yet never gave it o’er.
 
Sometimes I said : ‘It is an empty name
     I long for ; to a name why should I give
     The peace of all the days I have to live ?’
        Yet gave it all the same.
 
Alas, thou foolish one ! alike unfit
     For healthy joy and salutary pain :
     Thou knowest the chase useless, and again
        Turnest to follow it.
 
Christina Rossetti | Classic Poems
 

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