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1849–1903

XV

William Ernest Henley

Come where my Lady lies, Sleeping down the golden hours! Cover her with flowers. Bluebells from the clearings,

Flag-flowers from the rills, Wildings from the lush hedgerows, Delicate daffodils, Sweetlings from the formal plots,

Bloomkins from the bowers — Heap them round her where she sleeps, Cover her with flowers! Sweet-pea and pansy,

Red hawthorn and white; Gilliflowers — like praising souls; Lilies — lamps of light: Nurselings of what happy winds,

Suns, and stars, and showers! Joylets good to see and smell — Cover her with flowers! Like to sky-born shadows

Mirrored on a stream, Let their odours meet and mix And waver through her dream! Last, the crowded sweetness

Slumber overpowers, And she feels the lips she loves Craving through the flowers!

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XV · William Ernest Henley · Poetry Cove