Oscar Wilde

Selected Poems of Oscar Wilde

HE did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his handsWhen they found him with the dead, The poor dead woman whom he loved, And murdered in her bed. He walked amongst the Trial MenIn a suit of shabby grey; A cricket cap was on his head, And his step seemed light and gay; But I never saw a man who lookedSo wistfully at the day. I never saw a man who lookedWith such a wistful eyeUpon that little tent of blueWhich prisoners call the sky, And at every drifting cloud that wentWith sails of silver by. I walked, with other souls in pain, Within another ring, And was wondering if the man had doneA great or little thing, When a voice behind me whispered low, 'That fellow's got to swing.'Dear Christ! the very prison wallsSuddenly seemed to reel, And the sky above my head becameLike a casque of scorching steel; And, though I was a soul in pain, My pain I could not feel. I only knew what hunted thoughtQuickened his step, and whyHe looked upon the garish dayWith such a