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LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS, 24 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE WISE DO SEND THEIR HEARTS BEFORE THEM TO
Last Line: OH FOOL AMONG THE FOOLISH, IN THY QUEST.

The wise do send their hearts before them to
Dear blessed Heaven, despite the veil between;
The foolish nurse their hearts within the screen
Of this familiar world, where all we do
Or have is old, for there is nothing new:
Yet elder far that world we have not seen;
God's Presence antedates what else hath been:
Many the foolish seem, the wise seem few.
Oh foolishest fond folly of a heart
Divided, neither here nor there at rest!
That hankers after Heaven, but clings to earth;
That neither here nor there knows thorough mirth,
Half-choosing, wholly missing, the good part: --
Oh fool among the foolish, in thy quest.



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