Where Forlorn Sunsets Flare And Fade

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



Where forlorn sunsets flare and fade
On desolate sea and lonely sand,
Out of the silence and the shade
What is the voice of strange command
Calling you still, as friend calls friend
With love that cannot brook delay
To rise and follow the ways that wend
Over the hills and far away?

Hark in the city, street on street
A roaring reach of death and life,
Of vortices that clash and fleet
And ruin in appointed strife,
Hark to it calling, calling clear,
Calling until you cannot stay
From dearer things than your own most dear
Over the hills and far away?

Out of the sound of the ebb-and-flow,
Out of the sight of the lamp and star,
It calls you where the good winds blow,
And the unchanging meadows are;
From faded hopes and hopes agleam,
It calls you, calls you night and day
Beyond the dark into the dream
Over the hills and far away.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
97

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababcdcD efefgdgD hihijdjD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 819
Words 160
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

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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