2 Ernest Dowson Poems

Ernest Dowson was an English poet and novelist who also wrote short stories. He was a member of the Decadent Movement and is best remembered for a few especially lyrical verses. These include ‘Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae’ and ‘Vitae Summa Brevis.’ The former was published in The Second Book of the Rhymer’s Club in 1894.

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Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

‘Vitae Summa Brevis’ by Ernest Dowson is a short melancholic poem about the all too brief nature of life’s joys and the suddenness of its tragedies.

This poem by Ernest Dowson reveals his great ability to capture lucid sorrow with such affecting grace. It's not hard to see why he was revered by other writers, like Oscar Wilde, after his untimely youthful death at the age of 32 years old. Here, the earnestly misery-plagued poet offers a sobering description of life's futility and our trifling place within it.

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,

Love and desire and hate:

I think they have no portion in us after

We pass the gate.

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Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae

‘Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae’ by Ernest Dowson tells of a speaker’s unending passion for a woman he can’t have.

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine

There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed

Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;

And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,

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