Quote#Remembrance
You played and sang a snatch of song
Quote byWilliam Ernest Henley · 1849–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Poems (1898), "Rhymes and Rhythms", XV.
English (original)
You played and sang a snatch of song, A song that all-too well we knew; But whither had flown the ancient wrong; And was it really I and you? O, since the end of life's to live And pay in pence the common debt, What should it cost us to forgive Whose daily task is to forget?
— William Ernest Henley
More from William Ernest Henley
Far in the stillness a cat Languishes loudly. A cinder Falls, and the shadows Lurch to the leap of the flame.
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
Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.
Bland as a Jesuit, sober as a hymn.