Happy Mother’s Day Message from Victorian Poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

SONNETS ARE FULL OF LOVE, AND THIS MY TOME

Christina Rossetti, 1830 – 1894

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome

Has many sonnets: so here now shall be

One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me

To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,

To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee

I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;

Whose service is my special dignity,

And she my loadstar while I go and come

And so because you love me, and because

I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath

Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:

In you not fourscore years can dim the flame

Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws

Of time and change and mortal life and death.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), born in London, was one of the major Victorian poets.  She was among the poets and painters of the “Pre-Raphaelite” movement which promoted individuality, originality and attention to nature. In 1880, her mother Frances Rossetti turned 80.  Christina gave her this hand-written sonnet in honor of her 80th birthday.

Christina Rossetti became depressed and emotionally unstable later in life and died of cancer in 1894.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO YOU!