Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription

Document Title: Sacrament Hymn
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of Composition: 1850
Type of Manuscript: fair copy
Scribe: DGR

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

Image of page [1] page: [1]
Manuscript Addition: 1554
Editorial Description: Unknown notation in upper right corner
Sacrament Hymn
  • On a fair Sabbath day, when his banquet is spread,
  • It is pleasant to feast with my Lord:
  • His stewards stand robed at the foot & the head
  • Of the soul-filling, life-giving board.
  • All the guests here had burthens; but by the King's grant
  • We left them behind when we came;
  • The burthen of wealth and the burthen of want,
  • And even the burthen of shame.
  • And oh, when we take them again at the gate,
  • 10 Though still we must bear them awhile,
  • Much smaller they'll seem in the lane that grows strait,
  • And much lighter to lift at the stile.
  • For that which is in us is life to the heart,
  • Is dew to the soles of the feet,
  • Fresh strength to the loins, giving ease from their smart,
  • Warmth in frost, & a breeze in the heat.
Image of page [2] page: [2]
Manuscript Addition: 1555
Editorial Description: Unknown notation in upper right corner
  • No feast where the belly alone hath its fill,—
  • He gives me His body and blood;
  • The blood & the body (I'll think of it still,)
  • 20 Of my Lord, which is Christ, which is God.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 3-1850.dukems.rad.xml
Copyright: By permission of the Special Collections Library, Duke University