Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ECHOES: 37. TO W.A., by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Or ever the knightly years were gone Last Line: And you were a virgin slave. Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E. Variant Title(s): The Christian Slave;when I Was A King In Babylon Subject(s): Babylon | ||||||||
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 of 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VISIONS OF DANIEL by ROBERT PINSKY ASHURNATSIRPAL III by CARL SANDBURG SUPER FLUMINA BABYLONIS by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE BABEL: THE GATE OF GOD by GORDON BOTTOMLEY BABYLONIAN LYRIC by GORDON BOTTOMLEY THE ULTIMATE NATION by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON HARPS HUNG UP IN BABYLON by ARTHUR WILLIS COLTON MAD TOM TATTERMAN by JOHN DRINKWATER BALLADE OF DEAD ACTORS by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY |
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