Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
To OliveAlfred Douglas (18701945)
I
And reckless of the world’s hostility,
The blessèd part has not been given to me
Gladly to suffer fools, I do confess
I have enticed and merited distress,
By this, that I have never bow’d the knee
Before the shrine of wise Hypocrisy,
Nor worn self-righteous anger like a dress.
‘Love like a lamp sway’d over all his days
And all his life was like a lamp-lit chamber,
Where is no nook, no chink unvisited
By the soft affluence of golden rays,
And all the room is bathed in liquid amber.’