I Am The Reaper

William Ernest Henley

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.

Next 10 Poems

• William Ernest Henley : I Gave My Heart To A Woman
• William Ernest Henley : I. M. R. G. C. B. 1878
• William Ernest Henley : I. M.-margaret Emma Henley ( 1888-1894 )
• William Ernest Henley : I. M.-margaritae Sorori
• William Ernest Henley : I. M.-r. L. S. ( 1850-1894 )
• William Ernest Henley : If It Should Come To Be
• William Ernest Henley : In Fisherrow
• William Ernest Henley : In The Dials
• William Ernest Henley : In The Placid Summer Midnight
• William Ernest Henley : In The Year That's Come And Gone

Previous 10 Poems

• William Ernest Henley : House-surgeon
• William Ernest Henley : Gulls In An Aery Morrice
• William Ernest Henley : Grave
• William Ernest Henley : From A Window In Princes Street
• William Ernest Henley : Friends . . . Old Friends . . .
• William Ernest Henley : Fill A Glass With Golden Wine
• William Ernest Henley : Etching
• William Ernest Henley : Envoy-to Charles Baxter
• William Ernest Henley : Enter Patient
• William Ernest Henley : England, My England