Confluents by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A lonely speaker compares longing for a distant addressee to rivers seeking the sea, a rose opening to sunlight, and dew rising toward the sun. The speaker asks whether they will find the addressee at last, after sorrow has passed.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry · 226 words
First lines
As rivers seek the sea, / Much more deep than they, / So my soul seeks thee / Far away: / As running rivers moan / On their course alone / So I moan / Left alone.
As the delicate rose / To the sun's sweet strength / Doth herself unclose, / Breadth and length: / So spreads my heart to thee / Unveiled utterly, / I to thee / Utterly.
As morning dew exhales / Sunwards pure and free, / So my spirit fails / After thee: / As dew leaves not a trace / On the green earth's face; / I, no trace / On thy face.
Its goal the river knows, / Dewdrops find a way, / Sunlight cheers the rose / In her day: / Shall I, lone sorrow past, / Find thee at the last? / Sorrow past, / Thee at last?
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Four rhymed stanzas voice the speaker's longing through repeated first-person declarations and a closing question.
- Love Poetry — The speaker opens the heart utterly to a distant addressee and longs to find them after solitary sorrow.
Tags
longing · solitude · devotion · separation · hope of meeting
What this Textopian page supports
Confluents is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry
- Length: 226 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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