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The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson

by Ernest Dowson

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The Three Witches

All the moon-shed nights are over,
    And the days of gray and dun;
  There is neither may nor clover,
    And the day and night are one.

Not an hamlet, not a city
    Meets our strained and tearless eyes;
  In the plain without a pity,
    Where the wan grass droops and dies.

We shall wander through the meaning
    Of a day and see no light,
  For our lichened arms are leaning
    On the ends of endless night.

We, the children of Astarte,
    Dear abortions of the moon,
  In a gay and silent party,
    We are riding to you soon.

Burning ramparts, ever burning!
    To the flame which never dies
  We are yearning, yearning, yearning,
    With our gay and tearless eyes.

In the plain without a pity,
    (Not an hamlet, not a city)
    Where the wan grass droops and dies.

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