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C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Dora Greenwell (1821–1882)

“Bring Me Word How Tall She Is”

Woman in 1873

  • “How tall is your Rosalind?”—“Just as high as my heart.”
  • —‘AS YOU LIKE IT.’

  • WITHIN a garden shade,

    A garden sweet and dim,

    Two happy children played

    Together; he was made

    For God, and she for him.

    Beyond the garden’s shade,

    In deserts drear and dim,

    Two outcast children strayed

    Together—he betrayed

    By her, and she by him.

    Together, girl and boy,

    They wandered, ne’er apart;

    Each wrought to each annoy,

    Yet each knew never joy

    Save in the other’s heart.

    By her so oft deceived,

    By him so sore opprest,

    They each the other grieved;

    Yet each of each was best

    Beloved, and still caressed.

    And she was in his sight

    Found fairest—still his prize,

    His constant chief delight;

    She raised to him her eyes

    That led her not aright,

    And ever by his side

    A patient huntress ran

    Through forests dark and wide,

    And still the Woman’s pride

    And glory was the Man.

    When her he would despise,

    She kept him captive bound;

    Forbidding her to rise,

    By many cords and ties

    She held him to the ground.

    At length, in stature grown,

    He stands erect and free;

    Yet stands he not alone,

    For his beloved would be

    Like him she loveth, wise,

    Like him she loveth, free.

    So wins she her desire;

    Yet stand they not apart:

    For as she doth aspire

    He grows; nor stands she higher

    Than her Belovèd’s heart.