Sonnet LXXXVI: Lost Days
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
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 undying throats of Hell, athirst 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!”
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 89 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBCDEDEDE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 615 |
Words | 123 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet LXXXVI: Lost Days" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/7654/sonnet-lxxxvi:--lost-days>.
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