Page:The New Life (Rossetti 1899) Siddal ed.djvu/73

&#160;&#160;&#160;The New Life (Rossetti 1899) Aldus recto.png the which things it seemed to me that I had not yet made manifest. The first among these was the grief that possessed me very often, remembering the strangeness which Love wrought in me; the second was, how Love many times assailed me so suddenly and with such strength that I had no other life remaining except a thought which spake of my lady; the third was, how, when Love did battle with me in this wise, I would rise up all colourless, if so I might see my lady, conceiving that the sight of her would defend me against the assault of Love, and altogether forgetting that which her presence brought unto me; and the fourth was, how, when I saw her, the sight not only defended me not, but took away the little life that remained to me. And I said these four things in a sonnet, which is this:—

whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over

The quality of anguish that is mine

Through Love: then pity makes my voice to pine,