Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 89. The Trees of the Garden

Ye who have passed Death's haggard hills; and ye
Whom trees that knew your sires shall cease to know
And still stand silent:--is it all a show,--
A wisp that laughs upon the wall?--decree
Of some inexorable supremacy
Which ever, as man strains his blind surmise
From depth to ominous depth, looks past his eyes,
Sphinx-faced with unabashéd augury?

Nay, rather question the Earth's self. Invoke
The storm-felled forest-trees moss-grown to-day
Whose roots are hillocks where the children play;
Or ask the silver sapling 'neath what yoke
Those stars, his spray-crown's clustering gems, shall wage
Their journey still when his boughs shrink with age.

1. Returning To Brussels
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 80. From Dawn to Noon
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 82. Hoarded Joy
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 72. The Choice - 2
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 85. Vain Virtues

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