Oscar Wilde

Selected Poems of Oscar Wilde

Book Excerptnever saw sad men who lookedWith such a wistful eyeUpon that little tent of blueWe prisoners called the sky, And at every careless cloud that passedIn happy freedom by. But there were those amongst us allWho walked with downcast head, And knew that, had each got his due, They should have died instead: He had but killed a thing that lived, Whilst they had killed the dead. For he who sins a second timeWakes a dead soul to pain, And draws it from its spotted shroud, And makes it bleed again, And makes it bleed great gouts of blood, And makes it bleed in vain!Like ape or clown, in monstrous garbWith crooked arrows starred, Silently we went round and roundThe slippery asphalte yard; Silently we went round and round, And no man spoke a word. Silently we went round and round, And through each hollow mindThe Memory of dreadful thingsRushed like a dreadful wind, And Horror