James Kenneth Stephen Poems

At school I sometimes read a book,
And learned a lot of lessons;
Some small amount of pains I took,
And showed much acquiescence
...

In a wild moraine of forgotten books,
On the glacier of years gone by,
As I plied my rake for order's sake,
There was one that caught my eye:
...

Of sentences that stir my bile,
Of phrases I detest,
There's one beyond all others vile;
"He did it for the best."
...

I am not ambitious at all:
I am not a poet, I know
(Though I do love to see a mere scrawl
To order and symmetry grow).
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(From Her Point of View)

When I had firmly answered 'No',
And he allowed that that was so,
...

There are people, I know, to be found,
Who say, and apparently think,
That sorrow and care may be drowned
By a timely consumption of drink.
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1. IN THE BACKS.

As I was strolling lonely in the Backs,
I met a woman whom I did not like.
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Henley, June 7, 1891.

Shall we, to whom the stream by right belongs,
Who travel silent, save, perchance, for songs;
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If I've dared laugh at you, Robert Browning,
'Tis with eyes that with you have often wept:
You have oftener left me smiling or frowning,
Than any beside, one bard except.
...