Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
My Voice (Author: Oscar Wilde)

p.777

  1. 1] Within this restless, hurried, modern world
    2] We took our hearts' full pleasure—You and I,
    3] And now the white sails of our ship are furled,
    4] And spent the lading of our argosy.
  2. 5] Wherefore my cheeks before their time are wan,
    6] For very weeping is my gladness fled,
    7] Sorrow hath paled my lip's vermilion,
    8] And Ruin draws the curtains of my bed.
  3. 9] But all this crowded life has been to thee
    10] No more than lyre, or lute, or subtle spell
    11] Of viols, or the music, of the sea
    12] That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell.