John Barlas

John Evelyn Barlas (1860–1914), pseudonym Evelyn Douglas, was an English poet and political activist of the late 19th century. He was a member of the decadent movement in literature, as well as a revolutionary socialist in politics.

Quotes

Love Sonnets (1889)

• Loved once for ever loved: how surely sounds
  This gospel to me since I learned to list
  Truth from thy lips, mine own evangelist.
  What thought presumes to set now any bounds
  To Love whose being informs us and surrounds?
  • XXIII."Loved once for ever loved: how surely sounds"

• As I go musing through this mournful land
  Soothed by the pine-tree's solemn harmony,
  Thy well-loved image comes and walks by me.
  I seem to hold thee by the gentle hand
  And talk of things I dimly understand,
  That thy dear spirit set to mine may be
  As to an intricate lock the simple key.
  • XXXII. "As I go musing through this mournful land"

• I saw thee in a vision of the night
  Transfigured; for it seemed that on thy brows
  The heavens did rest with all their stars, like boughs
  Laden with blossoms; round thy feet the bright
  Green waves, like grass, ran rippling, strewn with white
  Star-fragments of rent petals: wasted vows,
  And ruined prayers I thought them, such as house
  In hearts that love and are not loved aright.
  • XLVI. "I saw thee in a vision of the night"

External links

• Barlas' 1889 book Love Sonnets, complete, at Sonnet Central
• Four other Barlas Sonnets at Sonnet Central