Friends.... Old Friends......

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



Friends… old friends…
One sees how it ends.
A woman looks
Or a man lies,
And the pleasant brooks
And the quiet skies,
Ruined with brawling
And caterwauling,
Enchant no more
As they did before,
And so it ends
With friends.

Friends… old friends…
And what if it ends?
Shall we dare to shirk
What we live to learn?
It has done its work,
It has served its turn;
And, forgive and forget
Or hanker and fret,
We can be no more
As we were before.
When it ends, it ends
With friends.

Friends… old friends…
So it breaks, so it ends.
There let it rest!
It has fought and won,
And is still the best
That either has done.
Each as he stands
The work of its hands
Which shall be more
As he was before?…
What is it ends
With friends?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

43 sec read
261

Quick analysis:

Scheme AabcbcddeeaA AafgfghheeaA AaijijkkeeaA
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 703
Words 146
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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