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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OSCAR WILDE, by BRENDAN BEHAN Poem Explanation First Line: After all the wit Last Line: My life on you, oscar boy, %yourself had it both ways | |||
After all the wit In a sudden fit Of fear, he skipped it. That body once lively Dumb in the darkness. In a cold empty room Quiet, but for candles Blazing beside him, His elegant form And firm gaze exhausted. With a spiteful concierge Impatient at waiting For a foreign waster Who left without paying The ten per cent service. Exiled now from Flore To sanctity's desert The young prince of Sin Broken and weathered Lust left behind him Gem without lustre No Pernod for stiffner But cold holy water The young king of Beauty Narcissus broken. But the pure star of Mary As a gleam on the ocean. ENVOI Sweet is the way of the sinner, Sad, death without God's praise. My life on you, Oscar boy, Yourself had it both ways. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINCOLN by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER THE DREAMER by SHAEMAS O'SHEEL SONNET: 30 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE QUATRAIN: SPENDTHRIFT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH OLD WYLIE'S STONE by ALEXANDER ANDERSON AFTER THE PLAY by HAMILTON FISH ARMSTRONG |
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