Explore "Monna Innominata: a Sonnet of Sonnets" by Christina Georgina Rossetti on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"O ombre vane, fuor che ne l'aspetto! " -- Dante. / "Immaginata guida la conduce. " -- Petrarca.
I dream of you to wake: would that I might / Dream of you and not wake but slumber on; / Nor find with dreams the dear companion gone, / As Summer ended Summer birds take flight. / In happy dreams I hold you full in sight, / I blush again who waking look so wan; / Brighter than sunniest day that ever shone, / In happy dreams your smile makes day of night. / Thus only in a dream we are at one, / Thus only in a dream we give and take / The faith that maketh rich who take or give; / If thus to sleep is sweeter than to wake, / To die were surely sweeter than to live, / Though there be nothing new beneath the sun.