D.G. Rossetti’s poem The Blessed Damozel depicts the intense yearning of two young lovers for each other. They were separated by death. The lady was dead and taken to heaven. But the man lived on the earth below. From heaven, the lady, however, pined for her earthly lover. The young lady stood, leaning on the golden bar of heaven, and longingly looked out into the infinite space to the earth below. She was innocent, virtuous, and beautiful. Her golden hair lay spread over her back. She wore a loose garment, decked with a single white rose, which was a gift of the Virgin Mary to her for her devotion. She wore seven stars in her hair and had three lilies in her hand. In heaven, she had become a member of God’s choir— a band of singers of God’s glory—and spent ten years as such. But she still felt herself a newcomer.
As the bereaved lover on earth was thinking of his lady love, he fancied that the blessed damozel was bending over him, and her hair fell over his face. But it was one of the leaves of the autumnal trees that were falling upon him. The blessed damozel stood on the rampart of the castle of God in heaven. As she looked down, she saw the sun dim and recede into the distance. She also saw the earth spinning in its axis far away in empty space. The blessed damozel was so absorbed in the thoughts of her earthly lover that she could neither see nor hear her heavenly mates. She continued to see if her lover was coming to join her, and she began to wonder what would happen after he arrived.
The blessed damozel believed that her lover would come to heaven, for their sincere prayer for reunion could not go in vain. When her beloved reached heaven, she would take him by the hand and guide him in heaven. They would stand before the sacred temple of God and find their prayers granted and melting away. They would lie in the shade of the mystic tree of life and see the Dove, the Holy Ghost, among its leaves. She would teach him how to sing the songs of heaven. The girl further hoped that in heaven they would visit the groves of Virgin Mary and her maidens. Her love would receive Mary’s approval, who might even lead them together to the temple of God. The girl would ask Christ to allow them to live in heaven, enjoying their earthly love eternally. Saying that, as she looked out, she saw a band of angels approaching her and thought that her hopes were going to be fulfilled, and she smiled. But she was disappointed, and she wept bitterly.
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