Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 29. The Moonstar

Lady, I thank thee for thy loveliness,
Because my lady is more lovely still.
Glorying I gaze, and yield with glad goodwill
To thee thy tribute; by whose sweet-spun dress
Of delicate life Love labours to assess
My lady's absolute queendom; saying, "Lo!
How high this beauty is, which yet doth show
But as that beauty's sovereign votaress."

Lady, I saw thee with her, side by side;
And as, when night's fair fires their queen surround,
An emulous star too near the moon will ride,--
Even so thy rays within her luminous bound
Were traced no more; and by the light so drown'd,
Lady, not thou but she was glorified.

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 70. The Hill Summit
2. At Issue
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 66. The Heart of the Night
4. On Certain Elizabethan Revivals
5. Penumbra

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