Christina Rosetti is a Victorian poet whom I have written about before. She is regarded as one of the best poets of that period, deservedly in my opinion, though she will not be to everyone's tastes. In particular, her devotional poems, of which there are many, will be off-putting to some, such is the faithlessness of our age. There are many secular poems too, often as not exploring ideas around love, loss and longing.

I have been stuck on a poem in one of her collections called 'I Will Arise' which I seem unwilling to pass, at least not without some comment. The poet is 'weary and weak... downcast in (my) soul' having failed in her estimation to 'reach the goal.' This is a bit like a dark night of the soul, where spiritual dryness and a lack of a sense of God's 'consolation' can cause a lot of distress. It is nothing new, the Desert Fathers talked about it 1600 years ago and it is a theme of a lot of Christian writing through the ages.

What saves Rosetti from despair is her yet deeper understanding of God's love - real, abiding, unchanging and ever-present. In Verse 2, she says,

'One only thing I knew, Thy love of me;
  One only thing I know, Thy sacred same
Love of me full and free,
  A craving flame
Of selfless love of me which burns in Thee.
How can I think of thee, and yet grow chill;
  Of Thee, and yet grow cold and nigh to death?
Re-energize my will,
  Rebuild my faith;
  I will arise and run, Thou giving me breath.'

Aside from her working through a spiritual recovery, it is a masterful piece of writing. Breath-taking I might call it. That is why I find it so hard to turn the page.