“They Desire a Better Country” Christina Rossetti

                          I.
I would not if I could undo my past,
        Tho' for its sake my future is a blank;
        My past for which I have myself to thank,
For all its faults and follies first and last.
I would not cast anew the lot once cast,
        Or launch a second ship for one that sank,
        Or drug with sweets the bitterness I drank,
Or break by feasting my perpetual fast.
I would not if I could: for much more dear
         Is one remembrance than a hundred joys,
                 More than a thousand hopes in jubilee;
        Dearer the music of one tearful voice
                 That unforgotten calls and calls to me,
"Follow me here, rise up, and follow here."

                        II.

What seekest thou, far in the unknown land?
        In hope I follow joy gone on before;
         In hope and fear persistent more and more,
As the dry desert lengthens out its sand.
Whilst day and night I carry in my hand
        The golden key to ope the golden door
         Of golden home; yet mine eye weepeth sore,
For long the journey is that makes no stand.
And who is this that veiled doth walk with thee?
         Lo, this is Love that walketh at my right;
                  One exile holds us both, and we are bound
        To selfsame home-joys in the land of light.
Weeping thou walkest with him; weepeth he?--
         Some sobbing weep, some weep and make no sound.