OSCAR WILDE 1854-1900

-o0o-

SONNET TO LIBERTY

These are the letters which Endymion wrote

To one he loved in secret, and apart.

And now the brawlers of the auction mart

Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,

Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote

The merchant's price. I think they love not art

Who break the crystal of a poet's heart

That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.

Is it not said that many years ago,

In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran

With torches through the midnight, and began

To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw

Dice for the garments of a wretched man,

Not knowing the God's wonder, or His woe?

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. His mother Lady Jane Francesca Wilde was a poet and journalist, writing under the name Sperenza. His father Sir William Wilde was an antiquarian, writer and a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear.