[
  {
    "title": "The Thread of Life",
    "author": "Christina Rossetti",
    "lines": [
      "I",
      "The irresponsive silence of the land,",
      "The irresponsive sounding of the sea,",
      "Speak both one message of one sense to me:--",
      "Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand",
      "Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band",
      "Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;",
      "But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?",
      "What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand?--",
      "And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,",
      "And sometimes I remember days of old",
      "When fellowship seemed not so far to seek",
      "And all the world and I seemed much less cold,",
      "And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,",
      "And hope felt strong and life itself not weak.",
      "",
      "II",
      "Thus am I mine own prison. Everything",
      "Around me free and sunny and at ease:",
      "Or if in shadow, in a shade of trees",
      "Which the sun kisses, where the gay birds sing",
      "And where all winds make various murmuring;",
      "Where bees are found, with honey for the bees;",
      "Where sounds are music, and where silences",
      "Are music of an unlike fashioning.",
      "Then gaze I at the merrymaking crew,",
      "And smile a moment and a moment sigh",
      "Thinking: Why can I not rejoice with you?",
      "But soon I put the foolish fancy by:",
      "I am not what I have nor what I do;",
      "But what I was I am, I am even I.",
      "",
      "III",
      "Therefore myself is that one only thing",
      "I hold to use or waste, to keep or give;",
      "My sole possession every day I live,",
      "And still mine own despite Time's winnowing.",
      "Ever mine own, while moons and seasons bring",
      "From crudeness ripeness mellow and sanitive;",
      "Ever mine own, till Death shall ply his sieve;",
      "And still mine own, when saints break grave and sing.",
      "And this myself as king unto my King",
      "I give, to Him Who gave Himself for me;",
      "Who gives Himself to me, and bids me sing",
      "A sweet new song of His redeemed set free;",
      "he bids me sing: O death, where is thy sting?",
      "And sing: O grave, where is thy victory?"
    ],
    "linecount": "45"
  }
]