#Gays #Irish #Victorians #XIXCentury #1897 #TheBalladOfReadingGaol
A Lily—Girl, not made for this wo… With brown, soft hair close braide… And longing eyes half veiled by sl… Like bluest water seen through mis… Pale cheeks whereon no love hath l…
Come down, O Christ, and help me!… For I am drowning in a stormier s… Than Simon on thy lake of Galilee… The wine of life is spilt upon the… My heart is as some famine—murdere…
O well for him who lives at ease With garnered gold in wide domain, Nor heeds the splashing of the rai… The crashing down of forest trees.… O well for him who ne’er hath know…
Within this restless, hurried, mod… We took our hearts’ full pleasure—… And now the white sails of our shi… And spent the lading of our argosy… Wherefore my cheeks before their t…
To drift with every passion till m… Is as a stringed lute on which all… Is it for this that I have given… Mine ancient wisdom and austere co… Methinks my life is a twice—writte…
These are the letters which Endym… To one he loved in secret and apar… And now the brawlers of the auctio… Bargain and bid for each poor blot… Aye! for each separate pulse of pa…
It is full summer now, the heart o… Not yet the sun—burnt reapers are… Upon the upland meadow where too s… Rich autumn time, the season’s usu… Will lend his hoarded gold to all…
This mighty empire hath but feet o… Of all its ancient chivalry and mi… Our little island is forsaken quit… Some enemy hath stolen its crown o… And from its hills that voice hath…
Under the rose—tree’s dancing shad… There stands a little ivory girl, Pulling the leaves of pink and pea… With pale green nails of polished… The red leaves fall upon the mould…
Nay, Lord, not thus! white lilies… Sad olive—groves, or silver—breast… Teach me more clearly of Thy life… Than terrors of red flame and thun… The hillside vines dear memories o…
Like burnt—out torches by a sick m… Gaunt cypress—trees stand round th… Here doth the little night—owl mak… And the slight lizard show his jew… And, where the chaliced poppies fl…
We caught the tread of dancing fee… We loitered down the moonlit stree… And stopped beneath the harlot’s h… Inside, above the din and fray, We heard the loud musicians play
The sea is flecked with bars of gr… The dull dead wind is out of tune, And like a withered leaf the moon Is blown across the stormy bay. Etched clear upon the pallid sand
How steep the stairs within Kings… For exile—wearied feet as mine to… And O how salt and bitter is the… Which falls from this Hound’s tab… That I had died in the red ways o…
Christ, dost thou live indeed? or… Still straightened in their rock—h… And was thy Rising only dreamed b… Whose love of thee for all her sin… For here the air is horrid with me…