Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ECHOES: 5 by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I AM A REAPER
Last Line: THE NOW AND THE EVER,
Subject(s): DEATH; IMMORTALITY; DEAD, THE;

I am a Reaper.
All things with heedful hook
Silent I gather.
Pale roses touched with the spring,
Tall corn in summer,
Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms --
Reaping, still reaping --
All things with heedful hook
Timely I gather.

I am the Sower.
All the unbodied life
Runs through my seed-sheet.
Atom with atom wed,
Each quickening the other,
Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless.
Ceaselessly sowing,
Life, incorruptible life,
Flows from my seed-sheet.

Maker and breaker,
I am the ebb and the flood,
Here and Hereafter.
Sped through the tangle and the coil
Of infinite nature,
Viewless and soundless I fashion all being.
Taker and giver,
I am the womb and the grave,
The Now and the Ever,



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