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.