{
 "id": "robert-louis-stevenson/to-w-e-henley",
 "title": "To W. E. Henley",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Robert Louis Stevenson",
 "poet_slug": "robert-louis-stevenson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Underwoods",
 "book_slug": "underwoods",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 16,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1887,
  "venue": "Underwoods (1887)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/underwoods00stevrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/robert-louis-stevenson_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/worksofrobertlvol28stev",
   "https://archive.org/details/worksofrobertlou14stev",
   "https://archive.org/details/newpoemsandvaria00stevuoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemshithertounp00stevrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31291",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30659",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/441",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poems,_by_Robert_Louis_Stevenson,_hitherto_unpublished"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 28,
  "n_stanzas": 2,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The year runs through her phases; rain and sun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Springtime and summer pass; winter succeeds;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But one pale season rules the house of death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cold falls the imprisoned daylight; fell disease",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By each lean pallet squats, and pain and sleep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Toss gaping on the pillows. But O thou!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Uprise and take thy pipe. Bid music flow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strains by good thoughts attended, like the spring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The swallows follow over land and sea.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pain sleeps at once; at once, with open eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dozing despair awakes. The shepherd sees",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His flock come bleating home; the seaman hears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Once more the cordage rattle. Airs of home!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Youth, love, and roses blossom; the gaunt ward",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dislimns and disappears, and, opening out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shows brooks and forests, and the blue beyond",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mountains. Small the pipe; but O! do thou,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Peak-faced and suffering piper, blow therein",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dirge of heroes dead; and to these sick,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These dying, sound the triumph over death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behold! each greatly breathes; each tastes a joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unknown before, in dying; for each knows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A hero dies with him⁠—though unfulfilled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet conquering truly⁠—and not dies in vain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So is pain cheered, death comforted; the house",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of sorrow smiles to listen. Once again⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O thou, Orpheus and Heracles, the bard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the deliverer, touch the stops again!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}