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decreaseErnest Christopher Dowson (1867 – 1900) is best known for his poem, Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae, which I ‘cloned’ for Thailandstories two years ago as I Have Been Faithful to You, Namtai! (http://www.thailandstories.com/article/poetry/i-have-been-faithful-to-you-namtai.html).
Dowson was a shy man who left his father’s docking business to devote his life to writing. He lived the typical decadent lifestyle of wine, women and song, but was not strong enough to sustain it, becoming a victim of both alcoholism and tuberculosis.
In 1889, Dowson fell in love with Adelaide "Missie" Foltinowicz who was only 11 years old at the time. His love was not returned, and was therefore never consummated (though in today’s Britain he would be deemed to have committed ‘thoughtcrime’ and been locked up). She is thought to have been the subject of his best love poems.
Dowson died at the age of 32 as a result of illness caused by alcoholism and tuberculosis.
The following poem is adapted from Dowson’s Villanelle of the Poet’s Road. It shows that poets of the Decadent movement lived similar lives to mongers in present-day Bangkok.
Wine and woman and song,
Three things garnish our way:
Yet is day over long.
Ernest Dowson
Chang, Thai girls and rock
Are what keep me going,
Yet my life is a crock.
My friends get a shock
When they see what I’m doing:
Chang, Thai girls and rock.
I can pleasure my c*ck,
With f*cking and blowing,
Yet my life is a crock.
I can drink till I drop,
Where cheap thrills are flowing:
Chang, Thai girls and rock.
I thought they’d unlock
The pain I’m undergoing,
Yet my life is a crock.
I should stop and take stock
Of the seeds I am sowing:
Chang, Thai girls and rock;
Yet my life is a crock.
© Bangkok Byron, 2008. All rights reserved by the author.
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