Oscar Wilde Revisited

Oscar Wilde Revisited

“Come back early—
or never come”
—Louis MacNeice,
Autobiography

First Oscar made—it important
The Importance—of Being Earnest

Come back again—or never come at all

Then Oscar made—it exquisite
Lady Windermere’s—lovely Fan

Come back again—or never come at all

Then Oscar made—his escape
Onboard a yacht—Erith to Dieppe

Come back again—or never come at all

Then Oscar made—a new play
The Portrait of Dorian Gray

Come back again—or never come at all

Dorian was a—flamboyant success
Madame Beardsley—did the sets

Come back again—or never come at all

The royalties—came flowing in
Marquess Queensberry—a heart attack

Come back again—or never come at all

Strolled along—Champs-Elysées
Flaunting it gaily—Pont de la Concorde

Come back again—or never come at all

Fell in love with—Raoul le Boucher
Replacing Bosie—with a young wrestler

Come back again—or never come at all

Posed for Rodin—the great sculptor
Winged like Epstein’s—elegant crypt

Come back again—or never come at all

Jonquil du Vallon—his new nom d’amour
Rather than shadowy—Sebastian Melmoth

Come back again—or never come at all

Wrote a libretto—for Daphnis and Chloe
Dalhousie Young—composing the music

Come back again or never come

Vacationed in Naples—Villa Giudice
Weekends at—Castel Gandolfo in Lazio

Come back again—or never come at all

Nice was nice—wrote a Napoule tale
The Ballad of the Fisher-Boy—so risque

Come back again—or never come at all

He wrote a sonnet—for singer Nellie Melba
“I the Lord of Language—you Queen of Song”

Come back again—or never come at all

One night at a party—Oscar introduced
Paul Verlaine the poet—to Emma Calvé

Come back again—or never come at all

Dined with John Gray—aging kept boy
André Rafflovich—his sugar daddy

Come back again—or never come at all

In the evenings—drinking absinthe
Fighting wallpaper roses—duel to the death

Come back again—or never come at all

Dreamed he was—at a cocktail party for
The dead—naturally the life of the party

Come back again—or never come at all

Beloved Bosie’s—£20,000 inheritance
Went fast—like his charm & goodlooks

Come back again—or never come at all

(“They arrived in Paris on May 15, dodging the press for eight days. When the French press caught up with them, Georges Docquois published an interview with them. Bosie explained what an absolutely abominable man the Marquess of Queensberry was. Bosie’s opinion of Wilde was their relationship was “extraterrestrial”—a communion together in symbol rather than something seedy (“louche”). Wilde was somewhat more down to earth. He knew what running away would be like—whether he did it in the boisterous company of Bosie and Frank Harris or by himself. There would be no dignity in that. He might well be stopped, or, if not stopped, he would have to slink about the continent as a fugitive from British justice. As his trip to Florence had shown, slinking was not Wilde’s style. Ostracism was not for him—but he had no delusion that it was nobler and more beautiful to stay… He didn’t want to be called a coward or a deserter. But a false name, a disguise, a hunted life—all that was temporary. It was better to be a Poet-in-Exile for awhile—then to be a Sebastian Melmoth forever.”—Richard Smellmann, Oscar Wilde Revisited)