Lyric Poem · Nature
The Thread of Life
1I
2The irresponsive silence of the land,
3The irresponsive sounding of the sea,
4Speak both one message of one sense to me: —
5Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand
6Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band
7Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;
8But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?
9What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand? —
10And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,
11And sometimes I remember days of old
12When fellowship seemed not so far to seek
13And all the world and I seemed much less cold,
14And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,
15And hope felt strong and life itself not weak.
16II
17Thus am I mine own prison. Everything
18Around me free and sunny and at ease:
19Or if in shadow, in a shade of trees
20Which the sun kisses, where the gay birds sing
21And where all winds make various murmuring;
22Where bees are found, with honey for the bees;
23Where sounds are music, and where silences
24Are music of an unlike fashioning.
25Then gaze I at the merrymaking crew,
26And smile a moment and a moment sigh
27Thinking: Why can I not rejoice with you?
28But soon I put the foolish fancy by:
29I am not what I have nor what I do;
30But what I was I am, I am even I.
31III
32Therefore myself is that one only thing
33I hold to use or waste, to keep or give;
34My sole possession every day I live,
35And still mine own despite Time's winnowing.
36Ever mine own, while moons and seasons bring
37From crudeness ripeness mellow and sanitive;
38Ever mine own, till Death shall ply his sieve;
39And still mine own, when saints break grave and sing.
40And this myself as king unto my King
41I give, to Him Who gave Himself for me;
42Who gives Himself to me, and bids me sing
43A sweet new song of His redeemed set free;
44he bids me sing: O death, where is thy sting?
45And sing: O grave, where is thy victory?
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“The Thread of Life” by Christina Rossetti — quilloak.com/poems/the-thread-of-life
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Thread of Life
- Poet
- Christina Rossetti
- Length
- 45 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Death & Loss, Love
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
- 45 lines · 3 stanzas of 15 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Christina Rossetti1830–1894
- Source record
- PoetryDBThe Thread of Life by christina-rossetti, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 926bc84fc567680d…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.