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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...AFTER THE RAIN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MOTHER'S LOVE by THOMAS BURBIDGE ON GEORGE HERBERT'S BOOK, THE TEMPLE, SENT TO A GENTLEWOMAN by RICHARD CRASHAW SONNET: 99 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE FOR YOU O DEMOCRACY by WALT WHITMAN |
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