Ernest Dowson Short Poems

Famous Short Ernest Dowson Poems. Short poetry by famous poet Ernest Dowson. A collection of the all-time best Ernest Dowson short poems

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Growth  

 I watched the glory of her childhood change,
Half-sorrowful to find the child I knew,
 (Loved long ago in lily-time),
Become a maid, mysterious and strange,
With fair, pure eyes - dear eyes, but not the eyes I knew
 Of old, in the olden time!

Till on my doubting soul the ancient good
Of her dear childhood in the new disguise
 Dawned, and I hastened to adore
The glory of her waking maidenhead,
And found the old tenderness within her deepening eyes,
 But kinder than before.

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam  

 They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 
 Love and desire and hate: 
I think they have no portion in us after 
 We pass the gate.
 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 
 Out of a misty dream 
Our path emerges for a while, then closes 
 Within a dream.
 


[The title translates, from the Latin, as 
'The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long'
and is from a work by Horace]

Exchanges  

 All that I had I brought, 
 Little enough I know; 
A poor rhyme roughly wrought, 
 A rose to match thy snow: 
All that I had I brought.
 

Little enough I sought: 
 But a word compassionate, 
A passing glance, or thought, 
 For me outside the gate: 
Little enough I sought.
 

Little enough I found: 
 All that you had, perchance! 
With the dead leaves on the ground, 
 I dance the devil's dance.
 
All that you had I found.

Jadis  

 Erewhile, before the world was old, 
When violets grew and celandine, 
In Cupid's train we were enrolled: 
 Erewhile! 
Your little hands were clasped in mine, 
Your head all ruddy and sun-gold 
Lay on my breast which was your shrine, 
And all the tale of love was told: 
Ah, God, that sweet things should decline, 
And fires fade out which were not cold, 
 Erewhile.

The Moon Maidens Song  

 Sleep! Cast thy canopy 
 Over this sleeper's brain, 
Dim grow his memory, 
 When he wake again.
 

Love stays a summer night, 
 Till lights of morning come; 
Then takes her winged flight 
 Back to her starry home.
 

Sleep! Yet thy days are mine; 
 Love's seal is over thee: 
Far though my ways from thine, 
 Dim though thy memory.
 

Love stays a summer night, 
 Till lights of morning come; 
Then takes her winged flight 
 Back to her starry home.