To: W A
William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)
Or ever the knightly years were gone
With the old world to the grave,
I was a King in Babylon
And you were a Christian Slave.
I saw, I took, I cast you by,
I bent and broke your pride.
You loved me well, or I heard them lie,
But your longing was denied.
Surely I knew that by and by
You cursed your gods and died.
And a myriad suns have set and shone
Since then upon the grave
Decreed by the King in Babylon
To her that had been his Slave.
The pride I trampled is now my scathe,
For it tramples me again.
The old resentment lasts like death,
For you love, yet you refrain.
I break my heart on your hard unfaith,
And I break my heart in vain.
Yet not for an hour do I wish undone
The deed beyond the grave,
When I was a King in Babylon
And you were a Virgin Slave.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 54 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABA CDCDCD XABA EXEFEF XABA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 748 |
Words | 162 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 6, 4, 6, 4 |
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"To: W A" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40571/to:--w-a>.
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