Poems from the Rossetti MS.
I laid me down upon a bank,
Where Love lay sleeping;
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping, weeping.
Then I went to the heath and the wild, 5
To the thistles and thorns of the waste;
And they told me how they were beguil'd,
Driven out, and compell'd to be chaste.
I saw a Chapel all of gold
That none did dare to enter in,
And many weeping stood without,
Weeping, mourning, worshipping.
I saw a Serpent rise between 5
The white pillars of the door,
And he forc'd and forc'd and forc'd;
Down the golden hinges tore,
And along the pavement sweet,
Set with pearls and rubies bright, 10
All his shining length he drew,
Till upon the altar white
Vomiting his poison out
On the Bread and on the Wine.
So I turn'd into a sty, 15
And laid me down among the swine.
I saw a Chapel, &c.] 8 Till he broke the pearly door MS. 1st rdg. del.
110