The Poetry Corner

Some Starlit Garden Grey With Dew

By William Ernest Henley

Some starlit garden grey with dew, Some chamber flushed with wine and fire, What matters where, so I and you Are worthy our desire? Behind, a past that scolds and jeers For ungirt loins and lamps unlit; In front, the unmanageable years, The trap upon the Pit; Think on the shame of dreams for deeds, The scandal of unnatural strife, The slur upon immortal needs, The treason done to life: Arise! no more a living lie, And with me quicken and control Some memory that shall magnify The universal Soul.