Christina Rossetti

Dec 5, 1830 - Dec 29, 1894

 

Three Seasons

by Christina Rossetti

A Cup for hope! she said,
In springtime ere the bloom was old:
The crimson wine was poor and cold
By her mouth's richer red.

A cup for love! how low,
How soft the words; and all the while
Her blush was rippling with a smile
Like summer after snow.

A cup for memory!
Cold cup that one must drain alone:
While autumn winds are up and moan
Across the barren sea.

Hope, memory, love:
Hope for fair morn, and love for day,
And memory for the evening grey
And solitary dove.

Source:

Goblin Market and Other Poems
Copyright 1865
Macmillan And Co.London and Cambridge