Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. b. 1840818. With Esther
HE who has once been happy is for aye | |
Out of destruction’s reach. His fortune then | |
Holds nothing secret; and Eternity, | |
Which is a mystery to other men, | |
Has like a woman given him its joy. | 5 |
Time is his conquest. Life, if it should fret. | |
Has paid him tribute. He can bear to die, | |
He who has once been happy! When I set | |
The world before me and survey its range, | |
Its mean ambitions, its scant fantasies, | 10 |
The shreds of pleasure which for lack of change | |
Men wrap around them and call happiness, | |
The poor delights which are the tale and sum | |
Of the world’s courage in its martyrdom; | |
When I hear laughter from a tavern door, | 15 |
When I see crowds agape and in the rain | |
Watching on tiptoe and with stifled roar | |
To see a rocket fired or a bull slain, | |
When misers handle gold, when orators | |
Touch strong men’s hearts with glory till they weep, | 20 |
When cities deck their streets for barren wars | |
Which have laid waste their youth, and when I keep | |
Calmly the count of my own life and see | |
On what poor stuff my manhood’s dreams were fed | |
Till I too learn’d what dole of vanity | 25 |
Will serve a human soul for daily bread, | |
—Then I remember that I once was young | |
And lived with Esther the world’s gods among. |