A Birthday

Christina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)



My heart is like a singing bird   
  Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;   
My heart is like an apple-tree   
  Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;   
My heart is like a rainbow shell
  That paddles in a halcyon sea;   
My heart is gladder than all these,   
  Because my love is come to me.   
  
Raise me a daïs of silk and down;   
  Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,   
  And peacocks with a hundred eyes;   
Work it in gold and silver grapes,   
  In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;   
Because the birthday of my life
  Is come, my love is come to me.
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Submitted by naama on July 15, 2020

Modified on March 15, 2023

32 sec read
43

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABAXBCB XDCDXCXB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 586
Words 107
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems. more…

All Christina Rossetti poems | Christina Rossetti Books

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