Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 86. Lost Days

The lost days of my life until to-day,
What were they, could I see them on the street
Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?
Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?
Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat
The throats of men in Hell, who thirst alway?

I do not see them here; but after death
God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath.
'I am thyself,--what hast thou done to me?'
And I--and I--thyself,' (lo! each one saith)
'And thou thyself to all eternity!'

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 8. Love's Lovers
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 99. Newborn Death - 1
4. The Staff and Scrip
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 40. Severed Selves

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