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1867–1900

DREGS

Ernest Christopher Dowson

The fire is out, and spent the warmth thereof ( This is the end of every song man sings! ) The golden wine is drunk, the dregs remain, Bitter as wormwood and as salt as pain;

And health and hope have gone the way of love Into the drear oblivion of lost things. Ghosts go along with us until the end; This was a mistress, this, perhaps, a friend.

With pale, indifferent eyes, we sit and wait For the dropt curtain and the closing gate: This is the end of all the songs man sings.

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DREGS · Ernest Christopher Dowson · Poetry Cove