Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 16. A Day of Love

Those envied places which do know her well,
And are so scornful of this lonely place,
Even now for once are emptied of her grace:
Nowhere but here she is: and while Love's spell
From his predominant presence doth compel
All alien hours, an outworn populace;
The hours of Love fill full the echoing space
With sweet confederate music favourable.

Now many memories make solicitous
The delicate love-lines of her mouth, till, lit
With quivering fire, the words take wing from it;
As here between our kisses we sit thus
Speaking of things remembered, and so sit
Speechless while things forgotten call to us.

1. At Issue
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 32. Equal Troth
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 27. Heart's Compass
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 33. Venus Victrix
5. To Thomas Woolner

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