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RHYMES TO W. E. HENLEY (1), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear henley, with a pig's snout on
Last Line: To make me uglier than I am.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Henley, William Ernest (1849-1903); Sickness; Illness


Dear Henley, with a pig's snout on
I am starting for London,
Where I likely shall arrive
On Saturday, if still alive:
Perhaps your pirate doctor might
See me on Sunday? If all's right,
I should then lunch with you and with she
Who's dearer to you than you are to me.
I shall remain but little time
In London, as a wretched clime,
But not so wretched (for none are)
As that of beastly old Braemar.
My doctor sends me skipping. I
Have many facts to meet your eye.
My pig's snout now upon my face:
And I inhale with fishy grace,
My gills outflapping right and left,
Ol.pin. sylvest. I am bereft
Of a great deal of charm by this --
Not quite the bull's eye for a kiss --
But like the gnome of olden time
Or bogey in a pantomime.
For ladies' love I once was fit,
But now am rather out of it.
Where'er I go, revolted curs
Snap round my military spurs;
The children all retire in fits
And scream their bellowses to bits.
Little I care: the worst's been done:
Now let the cold impoverished sun
Drop frozen from his orbit; let
Fury and fire, cold, wind, and wet,
And cataclysmal mad reverses
Rage through the federate universes;
Let Lawson triumph, cakes and ale,
Whiskey and hock and claret fail;
Tobacco, love, and letters perish,
With all that any man could cherish:
You it may touch, not me. I dwell
Too deep already -- deep in hell;
And nothing can befall, O damn!
To make me uglier than I am.





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