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Lyric Poem · Love

Echo

by Christina Rossetti · 1862

1Come to me in the silence of the night;

2Come in the speaking silence of a dream;

3Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright

4As sunlight on a stream;

5Come back in tears,

6O memory, hope, love of finished years.

7Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,

8Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,

9Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;

10Where thirsting longing eyes

11Watch the slow door

12That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

13Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live

14My very life again though cold in death:

15Come back to me in dreams, that I may give

16Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:

17Speak low, lean low,

18As long ago, my love, how long ago!

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
Echo
Poet
Christina Rossetti
Published
1862
Length
18 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Love, Grief, Dreams & Sleep

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
18 lines · 3 sestets
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Christina Rossetti1830–1894
Source record
WikisourceEcho by christina-rossetti, Wikisource transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
1862
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 f62187eb401ae24b
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policyReport a text or rights issue

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