A Birthday is a renowned poem by Christina Rossetti that celebrates the theme of love and the joy that love brings, which is often believed to be an expression of deep emotional and spiritual fulfillment. Born in 1830, Christina Rossetti was a well-known English poet known for her lyrical poetry, and she often explored themes of love, faith, and nature. One of Christina Rossetti’s most popular poems, A Birthday, is now often used in greeting cards.
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.