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1867–1900

VILLANELLE OF MARGUERITE'S

Ernest Christopher Dowson

“A little, passionately, not at all?” She casts the snowy petals on the air: And what care we how many petals fall! Nay, wherefore seek the seasons to forestall?

It is but playing, and she will not care, A little, passionately, not at all! She would not answer us if we should call Across the years: her visions are too fair;

And what care we how many petals fall! She knows us not, nor recks if she enthrall With voice and eyes and fashion of her hair, A little, passionately, not at all!

Knee-deep she goes in meadow grasses tall, Kissed by the daisies that her fingers tear: And what care we how many petals fall! We pass and go: but she shall not recall

What men we were, nor all she made us bear: “A little, passionately, not at all!” And what care we how many petals fall!

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VILLANELLE OF MARGUERITE'S · Ernest Christopher Dowson · Poetry Cove