Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Height in Depth

HE turned his face apart, and gave a sigh
And a strange whimper—such a pitiful thing
As haunts the heart for days. “Yes, Love can bring
Unto a pass so low that it seems high:
And, when we see a brave and strong man cry
With a poor infant's feeble sorrowing,
It is a nobler passion than to wing
Shafts of small angers and small prides,” thought I.
There is a love so deaf that it can hear
Not even its own voice which bids it seek
A name for its own meanness: it would find
The outlet else. But thus it is a sheer
Humility—an earnestness so meek
That your knees bow and sharp tears make you blind. 

1. To Thomas Woolner
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 68. A Dark Day
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 23. Love's Baubles
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 48. Death-in-Love
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 70. The Hill Summit

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