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Poem by William Ernest Henley


Echoes. 5. I Am the Reaper


I am the Reaper.
All things with heedful hook
Silent I gather.
Pale roses touched with the spring,
Tall corn in summer,
Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms—
Reaping, still reaping—
All things with heedful hook
Timely I gather.

I am the Sower.
All the unbodied life
Runs through my seed-sheet.
Atom with atom wed,
Each quickening the other,
Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless.
Ceaselessly sowing,
Life, incorruptible life,
Flows from my seed-sheet.

Maker and breaker,
I am the ebb and the flood,
Here and Hereafter,
Sped through the tangle and coil
Of infinite nature,
Viewless and soundless I fashion all being.
Taker and giver,
I am the womb and the grave,
The Now and the Ever.



William Ernest Henley


William Ernest Henley's other poems:
  1. In Hospital. 18. Children: Private Ward
  2. In Hospital. 8. Staff-Nurse: Old Style
  3. Echoes. 27. She Sauntered by the Swinging Seas
  4. In Hospital. 7. Vigil
  5. Beside the Idle Summer Sea


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