Spleen by Ernest Dowson

Published: Jan. 24, 2008, 8:26 a.m.

Dowson read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\n\n---------------------------------------------\n\nSpleen\nby Ernest Dowson (1867 \u2013 1900)\n\nI was not sorrowful, I could not weep,\nAnd all my memories were put to sleep.\n\nI watched the river grow more white and strange,\nAll day till evening I watched it change.\n\nAll day till evening I watched the rain\nBeat wearily upon the window pane\n\nI was not sorrowful, but only tired\nOf everything that ever I desired.\n\nHer lips, her eyes, all day became to me\nThe shadow of a shadow utterly.\n\nAll day mine hunger for her heart became\nOblivion, until the evening came,\n\nAnd left me sorrowful, inclined to weep,\nWith all my memories that could not sleep.