Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Poems

by William Ernest Henley

Henley, William Ernest (1849-1903)

[section]

TO MY WIFE

[Ask me not how they came]

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

VIII STAFF-NURSE: OLD STYLE

IX.

IX LADY-PROBATIONER

X STAFF-NURSE: NEW STYLE

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XVIII CHILDREN: PRIVATE WARD

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVII NOCTURN

XXVIII.

XXVIII DISCHARGED

ENVOY

THE SONG OF THE SWORD

ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS

BRIC-A-BRAC

BALLADE OF A TOYOKUNI COLOUR-PRINT

BALLADE (DOUBLE REFRAIN) OF YOUTH AND AGE

BALLADE (DOUBLE REFRAIN) OF MIDSUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS

BALLADE OF DEAD ACTORS

BALLADE MADE IN THE HOT WEATHER

BALLADE OF TRUISMS

DOUBLE BALLADE OF LIFE AND FATE

DOUBLE BALLADE OF THE NOTHINGNESS OF THINGS

ATTADALE, WEST HIGHLANDS

FROM A WINDOW IN PRINCES STREET

IN THE DIALS

[The gods are dead? Perhaps they are! Who knows?]

To F. W.

[When you are old, and I am passed away—]

[Beside the idle summer sea]

I. M. R. G. C. B. 1878

[We shall surely die]

[What is to come we know not. But we know]

ECHOES

I TO MY MOTHER

II.

III.

III

IV.

IV I. M. R. T. HAMILTON BRUCE (1846–1899)

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXV I. M. MARGARITÆ SORORIS (1886)

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

XLVI MATRI DILECTISSIMÆ I. M.

XLVII.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VII

VIII.

VIII To A. J. H.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XII

XIII.

XIII To JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER

XIV.

XIV To J. A. C.

XV.

XVI.

XVI

XVII.

XVII CARMEN PATIBULARE To H. S.

XVIII.

XVIII I. M. MARGARET EMMA HENLEY (1888–1894)

XIX.

XIX I. M. R. L. S. (1850–1894)

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

HAWTHORN AND LAVENDER

ENVOY

PRÆLUDIUM

II.

III.

III

IV.

VI.

VII.

VII

VIII.

VIII

IX.

XI.

XII.

XII

XIII.

XIII

XIV.

XIV

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

XLVII.

XLVIII.

XLIX.

II.

III.

IV.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

[The Artist muses at his ease]

II.

III.

II.

II THE MAN IN THE STREET

III.

III PRO REGE NOSTRO

IV.

IV THE LEVY OF SHIELDS

V MUSIC HALL

VI.

VI A NEW SONG TO AN OLD TUNE

VII.

VII ‘OUR CHIEF OF MEN’

VIII.

VIII ‘A HEALTH UNTO HER MAJESTY’

IX.

IN MEMORIAM THOMAS EDWARD BROWN

IN MEMORIAM GEORGE WARRINGTON STEEVENS

IN MEMORIAM REGINAE DILECTISSIMAE VICTORIAE

A SONG OF SPEED

APPENDIX

ECHOES

[In the time of snows]

[The pretty washermaiden]

BRIC-À-BRAC

OF THE FROWARDNESS OF WOMAN

[In the street of By-and-By]

[‘Felicity. Enquire within.]

[We 'll to the woods and gather may]

FORENOON

RAIN

JENNY WREN

[My love to me is always kind]

[With strawberries we filled a tray]

[The leaves are sere, and on the ground]

WITH A FAN FROM RIMMEL'S

VILLANELLE

VILLON'S STRAIGHT TIP TO ALL CROSS COVES

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XXVII
NOCTURN

At the barren heart of midnight,
When the shadow shuts and opens
As the loud flames pulse and flutter,
I can hear a cistern leaking.

Dripping, dropping, in a rhythm,
Rough, unequal, half-melodious,
Like the measures aped from nature
In the infancy of music;

Like the buzzing of an insect,
Still, irrational, persistent . . .
I must listen, listen, listen
In a passion of attention;

Till it taps upon my heartstrings,
And my very life goes dripping,
Dropping, dripping, drip-drip-dropping,
In the drip-drop of the cistern.