Quote#Dreams
Life — give me life until the end
Quote byWilliam Ernest Henley · 1849–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Poems (1898), "Rhymes and Rhythms", XVI.
English (original)
Life — give me life until the end, That at the very top of being, The battle-spirit shouting in my blood, Out of the reddest hell of the fight I may be snatched and flung Into the everlasting lull, The immortal, incommunicable dream.
— William Ernest Henley
More from William Ernest Henley
Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.
From the winter's gray despair, From the summer’s golden languor, Death, the lover of Life, Frees us for ever.
Hark how the Trumpet, The mistress of mistresses, Calls, silver-throated And stern, where the tables Are spread, and the work Of the Lord is in hand!
Ho! then, the splendour And sheen of my ministry, Clothing the earth With a livery of lightnings! Ho! then, the music Of battles in onset
Far in the stillness a cat Languishes loudly. A cinder Falls, and the shadows Lurch to the leap of the flame.
Bland as a Jesuit, sober as a hymn.