Carry me out

Into the wind and the sunshine,

Into the beautiful world.

O, the wonder, the spell of the streets!

The stature and strength of the horses,

The rustle and echo of footfalls,

The flat roar and rattle of wheels!

A swift tram floats huge on us . . .

It's a dream?

The smell of the mud in my nostrils

Blows brave—like a breath of the sea!

As of old,

Ambulant, undulant drapery,

Vaguely and strangely provocative,

Flutters and beckons. O, yonder—

Is it?—the gleam of a stocking!

Sudden, a spire

Wedged in the mist! O, the houses,

The long lines of lofty, gray houses,

Cross-hatched with shadow and light!

These are the streets. . . .

Each is an avenue leading

Wither I will!

Free . . .!

Dizzy, hysterical, faint,

I sit, and the carriage rolls on with me

Into the wonderful world.

The Old Infirmary, Edinburgh, 1873-75.

William Ernest Henley,

London Voluntaries, 1898.