Page:The New Life (Rossetti 1899) Siddal ed.djvu/74

68

Saying, "Is any else thus, anywhere?"

Love smiteth me, whose strength is ill to bear;

So that of all my life is left no sign

Except one thought; and that, because 'tis thine,

Leaves not the body but abideth there.

And then if I, whom other aid forsook,

Would aid myself, and innocent of art

Would fain have sight of thee as a last hope,

No sooner do I lift mine eyes to look

Than the blood seems as shaken from my heart,

And all my pulses beat at once and stop.

''This sonnet is divided into four parts, four things being therein narrated; and as these are set forth above, I only proceed to distinguish the parts by their beginnings. Wherefore I say that the second part begins, "Love smiteth me;" the third, "And then if I;" the fourth, "No sooner do I lift."''

After I had written these three last sonnets,