William Ernest Henley (Уильям Эрнст Хенли)

In Hospital. 27. Nocturn

At the barren heart of midnight,
When the shadow shuts and opens
As the loud flames pulse and flutter,
I can hear a cistern leaking.

Dripping, dropping, in a rhythm,
Rough, unequal, half-melodious,
Like the measures aped from nature
In the infancy of music;

Like the buzzing of an insect,
Still, irrational, persistent . . .
I must listen, listen, listen
In a passion of attention;

Till it taps upon my heartstrings,
And my very life goes dripping,
Dropping, dripping, drip-drip-dropping,
In the drip-drop of the cistern. 

1. In Hospital. 12. Etching
2. London Voluntaries. 5. Allegro Maëstoso
3. Rhymes and Rhythms. 23. Here They Trysted, Here They Strayed
4. Rhymes and Rhythms. 21. When the Wind Storms by with a Shout, and the Stern Sea-Caves
5. In Hospital. 7. Vigil

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