The Wind Among The Reeds. The Poet Pleads : p. 42 THE POET PLEADS WITH THE ELEMENTAL POWERS THE Powers whose name and shape no living creature knows Have pulled the Immortal Rose; And though the Seven Lights bowed in their dance and wept, The Polar Dragon slept, His heavy rings uncoiled from glimmering deep to deep: When will he wake...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 05 : p. 161 TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE You say, as I have often given tongue In praise of what another's said or sung, 'Twere politic to do the like by these; But was there ever dog that praised his fleas?
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. A Prayer : p. 348 A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER ONCE more the storm is howling and half hid Under this cradle-hood and coverlid My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle But Gregory's wood and one bare hill Whereby the haystack and roof-levelling wind, Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; And for an hour I have...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Towards : p. 342 TOWARDS BREAK OF DAY Was it the double of my dream The woman that by me lay Dreamed, or did we halve a dream Under the first cold gleam of day? I thought: "There is a waterfall Upon Ben Bulben side, That all my childhood counted dear; Were I to travel far and wide I could not find a thing...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Memory : p. 272 MEMORY ONE had a lovely face, And two or three had charm, But charm and face were in vain Because the mountain grass Cannot but keep the form Where the mountain hare has lain.
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Hears The Cry : p. 32 HE HEARS THE CRY OF THE SEDGE I WANDER by the edge Of this desolate lake Where wind cries in the sedge: Until the axle break That keeps the stars in their round, And hands hurl in the deep The banners of East and West, And the girdle of light is unbound, Your breast will not lie by...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Ego Dominus Tuus : p. 295 EGO DOMINUS TUUS HIC ON the grey sand beside the shallow stream Under your old wind-beaten tower, where still A lamp burns on beside the open book That Michael Robartes left, you walk in the moon And though you have passed the best of life still trace Enthralled by the unconquerable...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Thinks Of Those : p. 33 HE THINKS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SPOKEN EVIL OF HIS BELOVED HALF close your eyelids, loosen your hair, And dream about the great and their pride; They have spoken against you everywhere, But weigh this song with the great and their pride; I made it out of a mouthful of air, Their children's...
Advertisements : p. 364 p. 365 This advertisement appeared in the original book. It is included for completeness--JBH WORKS BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS FOUR PLAYS FOR DANCERS. Illustrated by EDMUND DULAC. Fcap. 4to. 10s. 6d. net. PLAYS IN PROSE AND VERSE. Crown 8vo. ["Autumn" 1922. THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE. Poems...
Responsibilities. The Three Beggars : p. 203 THE THREE BEGGARS "THOUGH to my feathers in the wet, I have stood here from break of day, I have not found a thing to eat For only rubbish comes my way. Am I to live on lebeen-lone?" "Muttered the old crane of Gort". "For all my pains on lebeen-lone"." King Guari walked amid his court...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Secret Rose : p. 36 THE SECRET ROSE FAR off, most secret, and inviolate Rose, Enfold me in my hour of hours; where those Who sought thee in the Holy Sepulchre, Or in the wine vat, dwell beyond the stir And tumult of defeated dreams; and deep Among pale eyelids, heavy with the sleep Men have named beauty. Thy...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. His Dream : p. 146 p. 147 FROM THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS (1912) p. 148 p. 149 HIS DREAM I SWAYED upon the gaudy stern The butt end of a steering oar, And saw wherever I could turn A crowd upon a shore. And though I would have hushed the crowd, There was no mother's son but said, "What is the figure...
Responsibilities. To A Wealthy Man Who Promised : p. 193 TO A WEALTHY MAN WHO PROMISED A SECOND SUBSCRIPTION TO THE DUBLIN MUNICIPAL GALLERY IF IT WERE PROVED THE PEOPLE WANTED PICTURES You gave but will not give again Until enough of Paudeen's pence By Biddy's halfpennies have lain To be "some sort of evidence," Before you'll put your guine...
The Wild Swans At Coole. On Being Asked : p. 287 ON BEING ASKED FOR A WAR POEM I THINK it better that in times like these A poet keep his mouth shut, for in truth We have no gift to set a statesman right; He has had enough of meddling who can please A young girl in the indolence of her youth, Or an old man upon a winter's night.
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Fiddler Of Dooney : p. 47 THE FIDDLER OF DOONEY WHEN I play on my fiddle in Dooney, Folk dance like a wave of the sea; My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet, My brother in Mocharabuiee. I passed my brother and cousin: They read in their books of prayer; I read in my book of songs I bought at the Sligo fair. When we come...
Notes : p. 354 p. 355 NOTES "The Hosting of the Sidhe" (p. 3).--The gods of ancient Ireland, the Tuatha De Danaan, or the Tribes of the goddess Danu, or the Sidhe, from Aes Sidhe, or Sluagh Sidhe, the people of the Faery Hills, as these words are usually explained, still ride the country as of old. Sidhe...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 08 : p. 158 A DRINKING SONG WINE comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and I sigh.
Responsibilities. The Two Kings : p. 182 THE TWO KINGS KING EOCHAID came at sundown to a wood Westward of Tara. Hurrying to his queen He had out-ridden his war-wasted men That with empounded cattle trod the mire; And where beech trees had mixed a pale green light With the ground-ivy's blue, he saw a stag Whiter than curds, its...
Responsibilities. The Realists : p. 218 THE REALISTS HOPE that you may understand! What can books of men that wive In a dragon-guarded land, Paintings of the dolphin-drawn Sea-nymphs in their pearly waggons Do, but awake a hope to live That had gone With the dragons?
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. All : p. 168 ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME ALL things can tempt me from this craft of verse: One time it was a woman's face, or worse-- The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; Now nothing but comes readier to the hand Than this accustomed toil. When I was young, I had not given a penny for a song Did not...
The Shadowy Waters. The Harp Of Aengus : p. 97 THE HARP OF AENGUS EDAIN came out of Midher's hill, and lay Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass, Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds And druid moons, and murmuring of boughs, And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples made Of opal and ruby and pale chrysolite Awake unsleeping...
Responsibilities. A Coat : p. 233 A COAT I MADE my song a coat Covered with embroideries Out of old mythologies From heel to throat; But the fools caught it, Wore it in the world's eyes As though they'd wrought it. Song, let them take it For there's more enterprise In walking naked.
Title Page : LATER POEMS BY W. B. YEATS MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1922 NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION Scanned , April 2005. John Bruno Hare, redactor. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923. It is not in the public domain in most other...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 09 : p. 157 THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT THE fascination of what's difficult Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent Spontaneous joy and natural content Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt That must, as if it had not holy blood, Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, Shiver...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Gives His Beloved : p. 23 HE GIVES HIS BELOVED CERTAIN RHYMES FASTEN your hair with a golden pin, And bind up every wandering tress; I bade my heart build these poor rhymes: It worked at them, day out, day in, Building a sorrowful loveliness Out of the battles of old times. You need but lift a pearl-pale h...
In The Seven Woods. Red Hanrahan's Song : p. 80 RED HANRAHAN'S SONG ABOUT IRELAND THE old brown thorn trees break in two high over Cummen Strand, Under a bitter black wind that blows from the left hand; Our courage breaks like an old tree in a black wind and dies, But we have hidden in our hearts the flame out of the eyes Of Cathleen...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. These : p. 165 THESE ARE THE CLOUDS THESE are the clouds about the fallen sun, The majesty that shuts his burning eye: The weak lay hand on what the strong has done, Till that be tumbled that was lifted high And discord follow upon unison, And all things at one common level lie. And therefore, friend, if...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Dawn : p. 266 THE DAWN I WOULD be ignorant as the dawn That has looked down On that old queen measuring a town With the pin of a brooch, Or on the withered men that saw From their pedantic Babylon The careless planets in their courses, The stars fade out where the moon comes, And took their tablets...
Preface : p. v PREFACE THIS book contains all poetry not in dramatic form that I have written between my seven-and-twentieth year and the year 1921. I have included one long poem in dramatic form, of which a much shortened version, intended for stage representation, is in my book of plays. I have left out...
In The Seven Woods. The Arrow : p. 72 THE ARROW I THOUGHT of your beauty, and this arrow, Made out of a wild thought, is in my marrow. There's no man may look upon her, no man; As when newly grown to be a woman, Tall and noble but with face and bosom Delicate in colour as apple blossom. This beauty's kinder, yet for a reason I...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Wild Swans At Coole : p. 235 THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE (1919) p. 236 p. 237 THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE THE trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine and fifty swans. The nineteenth Autumn has come...
Responsibilities. Coda : p. 234 WHILE I, from that reed-throated whisperer Who comes at need, although not now as once A clear articulation in the air But inwardly, surmise companions Beyond the fling of the dull ass's hoof, --Ben Jonson's phrase--and find when June is come At Kyle-na-no under that ancient roof A sterner...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Lover Pleads : p. 40 THE LOVER PLEADS WITH HIS FRIEND FOR OLD FRIENDS THOUGH you are in your shining days, Voices among the crowd And new friends busy with your praise, Be not unkind or proud, But think about old friends the most: Time's bitter flood will rise, Your beauty perish and be lost For all eyes but...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Saint : p. 312 THE SAINT AND THE HUNCHBACK HUNCHBACK STAND Up and lift your hand and bless A man that finds great bitterness In thinking of his lost renown. A Roman Caesar is held down Under this hump. SAINT God tries each man According to a different plan. I shall not cease to bless because I lay...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Cap And Bells : p. 25 THE CAP AND BELLS THE jester walked in the garden: The garden had fallen still; He bade his soul rise upward And stand on her window-sill. It rose in a straight blue garment, When owls began to call: It had grown wise-tongued by thinking Of a quiet and light footfall; But the young queen...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Fisherman : p. 9 THE FISHERMAN ALTHOUGH you hide in the ebb and flow Of the pale tide when the moon has set, The people of coming days will know About the casting out of my net, And how you have leaped times out of mind Over the little silver cords, And think that you were hard and unkind, And blame you with...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The People : p. 275 THE PEOPLE "WHAT have I earned for all that work," I said, "For all that I have done at my own charge? The daily spite of this unmannerly town, Where who has served the most is most defamed, The reputation of his lifetime lost Between the night and morning. I might have lived, And you know...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Cat And The Moon : p. 310 THE CAT AND THE MOON THE cat went here and there And the moon spun round like a top, And the nearest kin of the moon The creeping cat looked up. Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon, For wander and wail as he would The pure cold light in the sky Troubled his animal blood. Minnaloushe runs...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Lines Written : p. 265 LINES WRITTEN IN DEJECTION WHEN have I last looked on The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies Of the dark leopards of the moon? All the wild witches those most noble ladies, For all their broom-sticks and their tears, Their angry tears, are gone. The holy centaurs of the hills are...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Upon A Dying Lady : p. 290 UPON A DYING LADY I HER COURTESY WITH the old kindness, the old distinguished grace She lies, her lovely piteous head amid dull red hair Propped upon pillows, rouge on the pallor of her face. She would not have us sad because she is lying there, And when she meets our gaze her eyes are...
In The Seven Woods. Old Memory : p. 74 OLD MEMORY O THOUGHT, fly to her when the end of day Awakens an old memory, and say, "Your strength, that is so lofty and fierce and kind, It might call up a new age, calling to mind The queens that were imagined long ago, Is but half yours: he kneaded in the dough Through the long years...
In The Seven Woods. Never Give All The Heart : p. 75 NEVER GIVE ALL THE HEART NEVER give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that's lovely is But a brief dreamy kind delight. O never give the heart outright...
The Shadowy Waters. Dedication : p. 92 p. 93 THE SHADOWY WATERS (1906) p. 94 TO LADY GREGORY p. 95 I WALKED among the seven woods of Coole, Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn; Shady Kyle-dortha; sunnier Kyle-na-gno, Where many hundred squirrels are as happy As though they had been...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. On A Political : p. 339 ON A POLITICAL PRISONER SHE that but little patience knew, From childhood on, had now so much A grey gull lost its fear and flew Down to her cell and there alit, And there endured her fingers' touch And from her fingers ate its bit. Did she in touching that lone wing Recall the years before...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 07 : p. 159 THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME THOUGH leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. The Leaders : p. 341 THE LEADERS OF THE CROWD THEY must to keep their certainty accuse All that are different of a base intent; Pull down established honour; hawk for news Whatever their loose phantasy invent And murmur it with bated breath, as though The abounding gutter had been Helicon Or calumny a song. How...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Scholars : p. 255 THE SCHOLARS BALD heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines That young men, tossing on their beds, Rhymed out in love's despair To flatter beauty's ignorant ear. They'll cough in the ink to the world's end; Wear out the carpet with their...
Responsibilities. An Appointment : p. 230 AN APPOINTMENT BEING out of heart with government I took a broken root to fling Where the proud, wayward squirrel went, Taking delight that he could spring; And he, with that low whinnying sound That is like laughter, sprang again And so to the other tree at a bound. Nor the tame will, n...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Balloon Of The Mind : p. 285 THE BALLOON OF THE MIND HANDS do what you're bid; Bring the balloon of the mind That bellies and drags in the wind Into its narrow shed.
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 03 : p. 166 AT GALWAY RACES THERE where the course is, Delight makes all of the one mind, The riders upon the galloping horses, The crowd that closes in behind: We, too, had good attendance once, Hearers and hearteners of the work; Aye, horsemen for companions, Before the merchant and the clerk...
The Wild Swans At Coole. His Phoenix : p. 277 HIS PHOENIX THERE is a queen in China, or maybe it's in Spain, And birthdays and holidays such praises can be heard Of her unblemished lineaments, a whiteness with no stain, That she might be that sprightly girl who was trodden by a bird; And there's a score of duchesses, surpassing...
The Wild Swans At Coole. On Woman : p. 267 ON WOMAN MAY God be praised for woman That gives up all her mind, A man may find in no man A friendship of her kind That covers all he has brought As with her flesh and bone, Nor quarrels with a thought Because it is not her own. Though pedantry denies It's plain the Bible means Th...
Responsibilities. I. To A Child Dancing : p. 222 I TO A CHILD DANCING IN THE WIND DANCE there upon the shore; What need have you to care For wind or water's roar? And tumble out your hair That the salt drops have wet; Being young you have not known The fool's triumph, nor yet Love lost as soon as won, Nor the best labourer dead And all...
The Wild Swans At Coole. To A Squirrel : p. 286 TO A SQUIRREL AT KYLE-NA-GNO COME play with me; Why should you run Through the shaking tree As though I'd a gun To strike you dead? When all I would do Is to scratch your head And let you go.
Responsibilities. Ii. The Dolls : p. 232 II THE DOLLS A DOLL in the doll-maker's house Looks at the cradle and bawls: "That is an insult to us." But the oldest of all the dolls Who had seen, being kept for show, Generations of his sort, Out-screams the whole shelf: "Although There's not a man can report Evil of this place, The m...
In The Seven Woods. The Players Ask : p. 87 THE PLAYERS ASK FOR A BLESSING ON THE PSALTERIES AND ON THEMSELVES "Three voices together": HURRY to bless the hands that play, The mouths that speak, the notes and strings, O masters of the glittering town! O ! lay the shrilly trumpet down, Though drunken with the flags that sway Over...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 11 : p. 150 A WOMAN HOMER SUNG IF any man drew near When I was young, I thought, "He holds her dear," And shook with hate and fear. But oh, 'twas bitter wrong If he could pass her by With an indifferent eye. Whereon I wrote and wrought, And now, being grey, I dream that I have brought To such a pitch...
The Wind Among The Reeds. A Lover Speaks : p. 41 A LOVER SPEAKS TO THE HEARERS OF HIS SONGS IN COMING DAYS O, WOMEN, kneeling by your altar rails long hence, When songs I wove for my beloved hide the prayer, And smoke from this dead heart drifts through the violet air And covers away the smoke of myrrh and frankincense; Bend down and pray...
In The Seven Woods. The Ragged Wood : p. 85 THE RAGGED WOOD O HURRY where by water among the trees, The delicate stepping stag and his lady sigh When they have but looked upon their images, Would none had ever loved but you and I! Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed, Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky, When the sun...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Sad Shepherd : p. 257 THE SAD SHEPHERD SHEPHERD THAT cry's from the first cuckoo of the year. I wished before it ceased. GOATHERD Nor bird nor beast Could make me wish for anything this day, Being old, but that the old alone might die, And that would be against God's Providence. Let the young wish. But what h...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Song Of Wandering : p. 12 THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS I WENT out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Reconciliati : p. 153 RECONCILIATION SOME may have blamed you that you took away The verses that could move them on the day When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind With lightning you went from me, and I could find Nothing to make a song about but kings, Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten...
The Wild Swans At Coole. A Deep Sworn Vow : p. 283 A DEEP-SWORN VOW OTHERS because you did not keep That deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine; Yet always when I look death in the face, When I clamber to the heights of sleep, Or when I grow excited with wine, Suddenly I meet your face.
Responsibilities. Running To Paradise : p. 210 RUNNING TO PARADISE As I came over Windy Gap They threw a halfpenny into my cap, For I am running to Paradise; And all that I need do is to wish And somebody puts his hand in the dish To throw me a bit of salted fish: And there the king "is" but as the beggar. My brother Mourteen is worn...
Baile And Aillinn. Baile And Aillinn : p. 59 BAILE AND AILLINN (1903) p. 60 p. 61 BAILE AND AILLINN "Argument". Baile and Aillinn were lovers, but Aengus, the Master of Love, wishing them to be happy in his own land among the dead, told to each a story of the other's death, so that their hearts were broken and they died. I HARDLY hear...
Responsibilities. On Those That Hated ' : p. 202 ON THOSE THAT HATED "THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD," 1907 ONCE, when midnight smote the air, Eunuchs ran through Hell and met On every crowded street to stare Upon great Juan riding by: Even like these to rail and sweat Staring upon his sinewy thigh.
Responsibilities. Ii. The Peacock : p. 220 II THE PEACOCK WHAT'S riches to him That has made a great peacock With the pride of his eye? The wind-beaten, stone-grey, And desolate Three-rock Would nourish his whim. Live he or die Amid wet rocks and heather, His ghost will be gay Adding feather to feather For the pride of his eye.
The Wild Swans At Coole. An Irish Airm : p. 245 AN IRISH AIRMAN FORESEES HIS DEATH I KNOW that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier...
Responsibilities. That The Night Come : p. 229 THAT THE NIGHT COME SHE lived in storm and strife, Her soul had such desire For what proud death may bring That it could not endure The common good of life, But lived as 'twere a king That packed his marriage day With banneret and pennon, Trumpet and kettledrum, And the outrageous cann...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Phases Of The Moon : p. 301 THE PHASES OF THE MOON AN old man cocked his ear upon a bridge; He and his friend, their faces to the South, Had trod the uneven road. Their boots were soiled, Their Connemara cloth worn out of shape; They had kept a steady pace as though their beds, Despite a dwindling and late risen mo...
The Wild Swans At Coole. A Thought From Propertius : p. 280 A THOUGHT FROM PROPERTIUS SHE might, so noble from head To great shapely knees The long flowing line, Have walked to the altar Through the holy images At Pallas Athene's side, Or been fit spoil for a centaur Drunk with the unmixed wine.
Responsibilities. Beggar To Beggar Cried : p. 208 BEGGAR TO BEGGAR CRIED "TIME to put off the world and go somewhere And find my health again in the sea air," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "And make my soul before my pate is bare." "And get a comfortable wife and house To rid me of the devil in my shoes," Beggar to beggar...
In The Seven Woods. The Happy Townland : p. 89 THE HAPPY TOWNLAND THERE'S many a strong farmer Whose heart would break in two, If he could see the townland That we are riding to; Boughs have their fruit and blossom At all times of the year; Rivers are running over With red beer and brown beer. An old man plays the bagpipes In a golden...
The Wind Among The Reeds. Maid Quiet : p. 38 MAID QUIET WHERE has Maid Quiet gone to, Nodding her russet hood? The winds that awakened the stars Are blowing through my blood. O how could I be so calm When she rose up to depart? Now words that called up the lightning Are hurtling through my heart.
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Tells Of A Valley : p. 30 HE TELLS OF A VALLEY FULL OF LOVERS I DREAMED that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs, For happy lovers passed two by two where I stood; And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes: I cried in my dream, O women, bid...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Collar Bone Of A Hare : p. 247 THE COLLAR-BONE OF A HARE WOULD I could cast a sail on the water Where many a king has gone And many a king's daughter, And alight at the comely trees and the lawn, The playing upon pipes and the dancing, And learn that the best thing is To change my loves while dancing And pay but a kiss...
In The Seven Woods. The Old Men Admiring : p. 82 THE OLD MEN ADMIRING THEMSELVES IN THE WATER I HEARD the old, old men say, "Everything alters, And one by one we drop away." They had hands like claws, and their knees Were twisted like the old thorn trees By the waters. I heard the old, old men say, "All that's beautiful drifts away Like...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Broken Dreams : p. 281 BROKEN DREAMS THERE is grey in your hair. Young men no longer suddenly catch their breath When you are passing; But maybe some old gaffer mutters a blessing Because it was your prayer Recovered him upon the bed of death. For your sole sake--that all heart's ache have known, And given...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. The Second Coming : p. 346 THE SECOND COMING TURNING and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Hawk : p. 271 THE HAWK "CALL down the hawk from the air; Let him be hooded or caged Till the yellow eye has grown mild, For larder and spit are bare, The old cook enraged, The scullion gone wild." "I will not be clapped in a hood, Nor a cage, nor alight upon wrist, Now I have learnt to be proud Hovering...
Responsibilities. Fallen Majesty : p. 225 FALLEN MAJESTY ALTHOUGH crowds gathered once if she but showed her face, And even old men's eyes grew dim, this hand alone, Like some last courtier at a gypsy camping place Babbling of fallen majesty, records what's gone. The lineaments, a heart that laughter has made sweet, These, these...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Another Song Of A Fool : p. 315 ANOTHER SONG OF A FOOL THIS great purple butterfly, In the prison of my hands, Has a learning in his eye Not a poor fool understands. Once he lived a schoolmaster With a stark, denying look, A string of scholars went in fear Of his great birch and his great book. Like the clangour of a bell...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Remembers Forgotten : p. 21 HE REMEMBERS FORGOTTEN BEAUTY WHEN my arms wrap you round I press My heart upon the loveliness That has long faded from the world; The jewelled crowns that kings have hurled In shadowy pools, when armies fled; The love-tales wrought with silken thread By dreaming ladies upon cloth That h...
The Wild Swans At Coole. A Song : p. 252 A SONG I THOUGHT no more was needed Youth to prolong Than dumb-bell and foil To keep the body young. Oh, who could have foretold That the heart grows old? Though I have many words, What woman's satisfied, I am no longer faint Because at her side? Oh, who could have foretold That the heart...
The Wild Swans At Coole. A Prayer On Going : p. 300 A PRAYER ON GOING INTO MY HOUSE GOD grant a blessing on this tower and cottage And on my heirs, if all remain unspoiled, No table, or chair or stool not simple enough For shepherd lads in Galilee; and grant That I myself for portions of the year May handle nothing and set eyes on nothing...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Thinks Of His : p. 46 HE THINKS OF HIS PAST GREATNESS WHEN A PART OF THE CONSTELLATIONS OF HEAVEN I HAVE drunk ale from the Country of the Young And weep because I know all things now: I have been a hazel tree and they hung The Pilot Star and the Crooked Plough Among my leaves in times out of mind: I became...
Responsibilities. I. The Magi : p. 231 I THE MAGI Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye, In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones, And all their helms of silver hovering side by side, And all their...
In The Seven Woods. Adam's Curse : p. 78 ADAM'S CURSE WE sat together at one summer's end, That beautiful mild woman, your close friend, And you and I, and talked of poetry. I said: "A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught. Better go down upon your...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Against : p. 156 AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE O HEART, be at peace, because Nor knave nor dolt can break What's not for their applause, Being for a woman's sake. Enough if the work has seemed, So did she your strength renew, A dream that a lion had dreamed Till the wilderness cried aloud, A secret between you...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Solomon To Sheba : p. 250 SOLOMON TO SHEBA SANG Solomon to Sheba, And kissed her dusky face, "All day long from mid-day We have talked in the one place, All day long from shadowless noon We have gone round and round In the narrow theme of love Like an old horse in a pound." To Solomon sang Sheba, Planted on his...
In The Seven Woods. O Do Not Love Too Long : p. 86 O DO NOT LOVE TOO LONG SWEETHEART, do not love too long: I loved long and long, And grew to be out of fashion Like an old song. All through the years of our youth Neither could have known Their own thought from the other's, We were so much at one. But, O in a minute she changed-- O do not...
Responsibilities. The Mountain Tomb : p. 221 THE MOUNTAIN TOMB POUR wine and dance if Manhood still have pride, Bring roses if the rose be yet in bloom; The cataract smokes upon the mountain side, Our Father Rosicross is in his tomb. Pull down the blinds, bring fiddle and clarionet That there be no foot silent in the room Nor mouth...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Michael : p. 320 p. 321 MICHAEL ROBARTES AND THE DANCER (1921) p. 322 p. 323 MICHAEL ROBARTES AND THE DANCER HE OPINION Is not worth a rush; In this altar-piece the knight, Who grips his long spear so to push That dragon through the fading light, Loved the lady; and it's plain The half-dead dragon was her...
In The Seven Woods. The Withering Of The Boughs : p. 76 THE WITHERING OF THE BOUGHS I CRIED when the moon was murmuring to the birds: "Let peewit call and curlew cry where they will, I long for your merry and tender and pitiful words, For the roads are unending, and there is no place to my mind." The honey-pale moon lay low on the sleepy hill...
Responsibilities. The Three Hermits : p. 206 THE THREE HERMITS THREE old hermits took the air By a cold and desolate sea, First was muttering a prayer, Second rummaged for a flea; On a windy stone, the third, Giddy with his hundredth year, Sang unnoticed like a bird. "Though the Door of Death is near And what waits behind the do...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Lover Mourns : p. 16 THE LOVER MOURNS FOR THE LOSS OF LOVE PALE brows, still hands and dim hair, I had a beautiful friend And dreamed that the old despair Would end in love in the end: She looked in my heart one day And saw your image was there; She has gone weeping away.
The Wild Swans At Coole. Tom O'roughley : p. 256 TOM O'ROUGHLEY "THOUGH logic choppers rule the town, And every man and maid and boy Has marked a distant object down, An aimless joy is a pure joy," Or so did Tom O'Roughley say That saw the surges running by, "And wisdom is a butterfly And not a gloomy bird of prey. "If little planned is...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Fisherman : p. 269 THE FISHERMAN ALTHOUGH I can see him still The freckled man who goes To a grey place on a hill In grey Connemara clothes At dawn to cast his flies, It's long since I began To call up to the eyes This wise and simple man. All day I'd looked in the face What I had hoped 'twould be To write...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Wishes : p. 45 HE WISHES FOR THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Lover Asks : p. 28 THE LOVER ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE OF HIS MANY MOODS IF this importunate heart trouble your peace With words lighter than air, Or hopes that in mere hoping flicker and cease; Crumple the rose in your hair; And cover your lips with odorous twilight and say, "O Hearts of wind-blown flame! O...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Peace : p. 155 PEACE AH, that Time could touch a form That could show what Homer's age Bred to be a hero's wage. "Were not all her life but storm, Would not painters paint a form Of such noble lines," I said, "Such a delicate high head, All that sternness amid charm, All that sweetness amid strength?" Ah...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Under Saturn : p. 332 UNDER SATURN Do not because this day I have grown saturnine Imagine that lost love, inseparable from my thought Because I.have no other youth, can make me pine; For how should I forget the wisdom that you brought, The comfort that you made? Although my wits have gone On a fantastic ride, my...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Two Songs Of A Fool : p. 313 TWO SONGS OF A FOOL I A SPECKLED cat and a tame hare Eat at my hearthstone And sleep there; And both look up to me alone For learning and defence As I look up to Providence. I start out of my sleep to think Some day I may forget Their food and drink; Or, the house door left unshut, The hare...
Responsibilities. To A Shade : p. 199 TO A SHADE IF you have revisited the town, thin Shade, Whether to look upon your monument (I wonder if the builder has been paid) Or happier thoughted when the day is spent To drink of that salt breath out of the sea When grey gulls flit about instead of men, And the gaunt houses put...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Men Improve With : p. 246 MEN IMPROVE WITH THE YEARS I AM worn out with dreams; A weather-worn, marble triton Among the streams; And all day long I look Upon this lady's beauty As though I had found in book A pictured beauty, Pleased to have filled the eyes Or the discerning ears, Delighted to be but wise, For men...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Moods : p. 5 THE MOODS TIME drops in decay, Like a candle burnt out, And the mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; What one in the rout Of the fire-born moods Has fallen away?
Responsibilities. Friends : p. 226 FRIENDS Now must I these three praise-- Three women that have wrought What joy is in my days; One that no passing thought, Nor those unpassing cares, No, not in these fifteen Many times troubled years, Could ever come between Heart and delighted heart; And one because her hand Had strength...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems : p. 169 THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG I WHISPERED, "I am too young." And then, "I am old enough"; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. "Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair." Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops of her hair. Oh, love...
Responsibilities. September 1913 : p. 195 SEPTEMBER 1913 WHAT need you, being come to sense, But fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence And prayer to shivering prayer, until You have dried the marrow from the bone; For men were born to pray and save: Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Mourns : p. 17 HE MOURNS FOR THE CHANGE THAT HAS COME UPON HIM AND HIS BELOVED AND LONGS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns! I have been changed to a hound with one red ear; I have been in the Path of Stones and the Wood of Thorns, For somebody hid hatred and hope...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. King : p. 154 KING AND NO KING "WOULD it were anything but merely voice!" The No King cried who after that was King, Because he had not heard of anything That balanced with a word is more than noise; Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, Though he'd but...
The Wild Swans At Coole. In Memory Of Alfred : p. 288 IN MEMORY OF ALFRED POLLEXFEN FIVE-AND-TWENTY years have gone Since old William Pollexfen Laid his strong bones down in death By his wife Elizabeth In the grey stone tomb he made. And after twenty years they laid In that tomb by him and her, His son George, the astrologer; And Masons drove...
Responsibilities. Ii. Two Years Later : p. 223 II TWO YEARS LATER HAS no one said those daring Kind eyes should be more learn'd? Or warned you how despairing The moths are when they are burned, I could have warned you, but you are young, So we speak a different tongue. O you will take whatever's offered And dream that all the world's...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Easter, 1916 : p. 334 EASTER, 1916 I HAVE met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod of the head Or polite meaningless words, Or have lingered awhile and said Polite meaningless words, And thought before I had done...
The Shadowy Waters. The Shadowy Waters : p. 98 PERSONS IN THE PLAY FORGAEL AIBRIC JAILORS DECTORA p. 99 THE SHADOWY WATERS "The deck of an ancient ship. At the right of the stage is the mast, with a large square sail hiding a great deal of the sky and sea on that side. The tiller is at the left of the stage; it is a long oar coming...
Responsibilities. The Grey Rock : p. 177 THE GREY ROCK POETS with whom I learned my trade, Companions of the Cheshire Cheese, Here's an old story I've re-made, Imagining 'twould better please Your ears than stories now in fashion, Though you may think I waste my breath Pretending that there can be passion That has more life in it...
Responsibilities. To A Friend Whose Work : p. 197 TO A FRIEND WHOSE WORK HAS COME TO NOTHING Now all the truth is out, Be secret and take defeat From any brazen throat, For how can you compete, Being honour bred, with one Who, were it proved he lies, Were neither shamed in his own Nor in his neighbours' eyes? Bred to a harder thing Th...
In The Seven Woods. The Folly Of Being Comforted : p. 73 THE FOLLY OF BEING COMFORTED ONE that is ever kind said yesterday: "Your well-beloved's hair has threads of grey, And little shadows come about her eyes; Time can but make it easier to be wise Though now it seem impossible, and so Patience is all that you have need of." No, I have not...
The Wild Swans At Coole. To A Young Beauty : p. 253 TO A YOUNG BEAUTY DEAR fellow-artist, why so free With every sort of company, With every Jack and Jill? Choose your companions from the best; Who draws a bucket with the rest Soon topples down the hill. You may, that mirror for a school, Be passionate, not bountiful As common beauties may...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. An Image : p. 329 AN IMAGE FROM A PAST LIFE HE NEVER until this night have I been stirred. The elaborate star-light throws a reflection On the dark stream, Till all the eddies gleam; And thereupon there comes that scream From terrified, invisible beast or bird: Image of poignant recollection. SHE An image...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Presences : p. 284 PRESENCES THIS night has been so strange that it seemed As if the hair stood up on my head. From going-down of the sun I have dreamed That women laughing, or timid or wild, In rustle of lace or silken stuff, Climbed up my creaking stair. They had read All I had rhymed of that monstrous...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Hosting Of The Sidhe : p. 1 THE WIND AMONG THE REEDS (1899) p. 2 p. 3 THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE THE host is riding from Knocknarea And over the grave of Clooth-na bare; Caolte tossing his burning hair And Niamh calling "Away, come away": Empty your heart of its mortal dream. The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round, Our...
Responsibilities. A Memory Of Youth : p. 224 A MEMORY OF YOUTH THE moments passed as at a play, I had the wisdom love brings forth; I had my share of mother wit And yet for all that I could say, And though I had her praise for it, A cloud blown from the cut-throat north Suddenly hid love's moon away. Believing every word I said I...
The Wind Among The Reeds. A Cradle Song : p. 10 A CRADLE SONG THE Danaan children laugh, in cradles of wrought gold, And clap their hands together, and half close their eyes, For they will ride the North when the ger-eagle flies, With heavy whitening wings, and a heart fallen cold: I kiss my wailing child and press it to my breast...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Up : p. 163 UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY THE LAND AGITATION How should the world be luckier if this house, Where passion and precision have been one Time out of mind, became too ruinous To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun? And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow Where wings have memory...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. To Be Carved : p. 353 TO BE CARVED ON A STONE AT THOOR BALLYLEE I, THE poet William Yeats, With old mill boards and sea-green slates, And smithy work from the Gort forge, Restored this tower for my wife George; And may these characters remain When all is ruin once again.
Responsibilities. Paudeen : p. 198 PAUDEEN INDIGNANT at the fumbling wits, the obscure spite Of our old Paudeen in his shop, I stumbled blind Among the stones and thorn trees, under morning light; Until a curlew cried and in the luminous wind A curlew answered; and suddenly thereupon I thought That on the lonely height where...
Responsibilities. When Helen Lived : p. 201 WHEN HELEN LIVED WE have cried in our despair That men desert, For some trivial affair Or noisy, insolent, sport, Beauty that we have won From bitterest hours; Yet we, had we walked within Those topless towers Where Helen walked with her boy, Had given but as the rest Of the men and women...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Host Of The Air : p. 7 THE HOST OF THE AIR O'DRISCOLL drove with a song The wild duck and the drake From the tall and the tufted reeds Of the drear Hart Lake. And he saw how the reeds grew dark At the coming of night tide, And dreamed of the long dim hair Of Bridget his bride. He heard while he sang and dreamed...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Double Visi : p. 316 THE DOUBLE VISION OF MICHAEL ROBARTES I ON the grey rock of Cashel the mind's eye Has called up the cold spirits that are born When the old moon is vanished from the sky And the new still hides her horn. Under blank eyes and fingers never still The particular is pounded till it is man, When...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Everlasting Voices : p. 4 THE EVERLASTING VOICES O SWEET everlasting Voices, be still; Go to the guards of the heavenly fold And bid them wander obeying your will Flame under flame, till Time be no more; Have you not heard that our hearts are old, That you call in birds, in wind on the hill, In shaken boughs, in tide...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Song : p. 14 THE SONG OF THE OLD MOTHER I RISE in the dawn, and I kneel and blow Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow; And then I must scrub and bake and sweep Till stars are beginning to blink and peep; And the young lie long and dream in their bed Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head...
The Wind Among The Reeds. Into The Twilight : p. 11 INTO THE TWILIGHT OUT-WORN heart, in a time out-worn, Come clear of the nets of wrong and right; Laugh, heart, again in the grey twilight, Sigh, heart, again in the dew of the morn. Your mother Eire is always young, Dew ever shining and twilight grey; Though hope fall from you and love decay...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Her Praise : p. 273 HER PRAISE SHE is foremost of those that I would hear praised. I have gone about the house, gone up and down As a man does who has published a new book Or a young girl dressed out in her new gown, And though I have turned the talk by hook or crook Until her praise should be the uppermost...
Responsibilities. Responsibilities : p. 170 p. 171 RESPONSIBILITIES (1914) p. 172 p. 173 "In dreams begins responsibility"." "Old Play". "How am I fallen from myself, for a long time now I have not seen the Prince of Chang in my dreams." "Khoung-fou-tseu". p. 174 p. 175 PARDON, old fathers, if you still remain Somewhere in ear-shot...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Heart Of The Woman : p. 15 THE HEART OF THE WOMAN O WHAT to me the little room That was brimmed up with prayer and rest; He bade me out into the gloom, And my breast lies upon his breast. O what to me my mother's care, The house where I was safe and warm; The shadowy blossom of my hair Will hide us from the bitter...
The Wild Swans At Coole. Under The Round Tower : p. 248 UNDER THE ROUND TOWER "ALTHOUGH I'd lie lapped up in linen A deal I'd sweat and little earn If I should live as live the neighbours," Cried the beggar, Billy Byrne; "Stretch bones till the daylight come On great-grandfather's battered tomb." Upon a grey old battered tombstone In Glendalough...
The Wild Swans At Coole. The Living Beauty : p. 251 THE LIVING BEAUTY I'LL say and maybe dream I have drawn content-- Seeing that time has frozen up the blood, The wick of youth being burned and the oil spent-- From beauty that is cast out of a mould In bronze, or that in dazzling marble appears, Appears, and when we have gone is gone ag...
The Old Age Of Queen Maeve. The Old Age : p. 48p. 49 THE OLD AGE OF QUEEN MAEVE (1903) p. 50 p. 51 THE OLD AGE OF QUEEN MAEVE MAEVE the great queen was pacing to and fro, Between the walls covered with beaten bronze, In her high house at Cruachan; the long hearth, Flickering with ash and hazel, but half showed Where the tired horse-boys...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 02 : p. 167 A FRIEND'S ILLNESS SICKNESS brought me this Thought, in that scale of his: Why should I be dismayed Though flame had burned the whole World, as it were a coal, Now I have seen it weighed Against a soul?
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Demon And Beast : p. 344 DEMON AND BEAST FOR certain minutes at the least That crafty demon and that loud beast That plague me day and night Ran out of my sight; Though I had long pernned in the gyre, Between my hatred and desire, I saw my freedom won And all laugh in the sun. The glittering eyes in a death's head...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 06 : p. 160 ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE WHERE, where but here have Pride and Truth, That long to give themselves for wage, To shake their wicked sides at youth Restraining reckless middle-age.
The Wind Among The Reeds. To His Heart, Bidding : p. 24 TO HIS HEART, BIDDING IT HAVE NO FEAR BE you still, be you still, trembling heart; Remember the wisdom out of the old days: Him who trembles before the flame and the flood, find the winds that blow through the starry ways, Let the starry winds and the flame and the flood Cover over and hide...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Reproves The Curlew : p. 20 HE REPROVES THE CURLEW O, CURLEW, cry no more in the air, Or only to the water in the West; Because your crying brings to my mind Passion-dimmed eyes and long heavy hair That was shaken out over my breast: There is enough evil in the crying of wind.
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Bids His Beloved : p. 19 HE BIDS HIS BELOVED BE AT PEACE I HEAR the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake, Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white; The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night, The East her hidden joy before the morning break, The West weeps in pale dew and sighs...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 10 : p. 151 THE CONSOLATION I HAD this thought awhile ago, "My darling cannot understand What I have done, or what would do In this blind bitter land." And I grew weary of the sun Until my thoughts cleared up again, Remembering that the best I have done Was done to make it plain; That every year I have...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. A Meditati : p. 352 A MEDITATION IN TIME OF WAR FOR one throb of the Artery, While on that old grey stone I sat Under the old wind-broken tree, I knew that One is animate Mankind inanimate phantasy.
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Tells : p. 31 HE TELLS OF THE PERFECT BEAUTY O CLOUD-PALE eyelids, dream-dimmed eyes, The poets labouring all their days To build a perfect beauty in rhyme Are overthrown by a woman's gaze And by the unlabouring brood of the skies: And therefore my heart will bow, when dew Is dropping sleep, until God...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Solom : p. 327 SOLOMON AND THE WITCH AND thus declared that Arab lady: 'Last night, where under the wild moon On grassy mattress I had laid me, Within my arms great Solomon, I suddenly cried out in a strange tongue Not his, not mine." And he that knew All sounds by bird or angel sung Answered: "A crested...
In The Seven Woods. Under The Moon : p. 83 UNDER THE MOON I HAVE no happiness in dreaming of Brycelinde, Nor Avalon the grass-green hollow, nor Joyous Isle, Where one found Lancelot crazed and hid him for a while; Nor Ulad, when Naoise had thrown a sail upon the wind; Nor lands that seem too dim to be burdens on the heart:...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. The Mask : p. 162 THE MASK "PUT off that mask of burning gold With emerald eyes." "O no, my dear, you make so bold To find if hearts be wild and wise, And yet not cold." "I would but find what's there to find, Love or deceit." "It was the mask engaged your mind, And after set your heart to beat, Not what's...
The Wind Among The Reeds. A Poet To His Beloved : p. 22 A POET TO HIS BELOVED I BRING you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams; White woman that passion has worn As the tide wears the dove-grey sands, And with heart more old than the horn That is brimmed from the pale fire of time: White woman with numberless dreams I bring you...
Responsibilities. The Cold Heaven : p. 228 THE COLD HEAVEN SUDDENLY I saw the cold and rook-delighting Heaven That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, And thereupon imagination and heart were driven So wild that every casual thought of that and this Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season With...
The Wild Swans At Coole. To A Young Girl : p. 254 TO A YOUNG GIRL MY dear, my dear, I know More than another What makes your heart beat so; Not even your own mother Can know it as I know, Who broke my heart for her When the wild thought, That she denies And has forgot, Set all her blood astir And glittered in her eyes.
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. The Rose Tree : p. 338 THE ROSE TREE "O WORDS are lightly spoken," Said Pearse to Connolly, "Maybe a breath of politic words Has withered our Rose Tree; Or maybe but a wind that blows Across the bitter sea." "It needs to be but watered" James Connolly replied, "To make the green come out again And spread on every...
Michael Robartes And The Dancer. Sixteen Dead Men : p. 337 SIXTEEN DEAD MEN O BUT we talked at large before The sixteen men were shot, But who can talk of give and take, What should be and what not? While those dead men are loitering there To stir the boiling pot. You say that we should still the land Till Germany's overcome; But who is there...
The Wild Swans At Coole. In Memory Of Maj : p. 239 IN MEMORY OF MAJOR ROBERT GREGORY 1 Now that we're almost settled in our house I'll name the friends that cannot sup with us Beside a fire of turf in th' ancient tower, And having talked to some late hour Climb up the narrow winding stair to bed: Discoverers of forgotten truth Or mere...
Responsibilities. A Song From The Player Queen : p. 217 A SONG FROM THE PLAYER QUEEN My mother dandled me and sang, "How young it is, how young!" And made a golden cradle That on a willow swung. "He went away," my mother sang, "When I was brought to bed," And all the while her needle pulled The gold and silver thread. She pulled the thread...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Blessed : p. 34 THE BLESSED CUMHAL called out, bending his head, Till Dathi came and stood, With a blink in his eyes at the cave mouth, Between the wind and the wood. And Cumhal said, bending his knees, "I have come by the windy way To gather the half of your blessedness And learn to pray when you pray. "I...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. No : p. 152 NO SECOND TROY WHY should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire? What could have made her peaceful with a mind That nobleness...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Travail Of Passion : p. 39 THE TRAVAIL OF PASSION WHEN the flaming lute-thronged angelic door is wide; When an immortal passion breathes in mortal clay; Our hearts endure the scourge, the plaited thorns, the way Crowded with bitter faces, the wounds in palm and side, The vinegar-heavy sponge, the flowers by Kedr...
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Lover Tells : p. 6 THE LOVER TELLS OF THE ROSE IN HIS HEART ALL things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old, The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart, The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould, Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my...
In The Seven Woods. In The Seven Woods : p. 69 IN THE SEVEN WOODS (1904) p. 70 p. 71 IN THE SEVEN WOODS I HAVE heard the pigeons of the Seven Woods Make their faint thunder, and the garden bees Hum in the lime tree flowers; and put away The unavailing outcries and the old bitterness That empty the heart. I have forgot awhile Tar...
The Wind Among The Reeds. He Wishes His Beloved : p. 44 HE WISHES HIS BELOVED WERE DEAD WERE you but lying cold and dead, And lights were paling out of the West, You would come hither, and bend your head, And I would lay my head on your breast; And you would murmur tender words, Forgiving me, because you were dead: Nor would you rise and hasten...
Responsibilities. The Hour Before Dawn : p. 212 THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN A CURSING rogue with a merry face, A bundle of rags upon a crutch, Stumbled upon that windy place Called Croghan, and it was as much As the one sturdy leg could do To keep him upright while he cursed. He had counted, where long years ago Queen Maeve's nine Maines had...
Responsibilities. I. The Witch : p. 219 I THE WITCH TOIL and grow rich, What's that but to lie With a foul witch And after, drained dry, To be brought To the chamber where Lies one long sought With despair.
The Wind Among The Reeds. The Valley : p. 27 THE VALLEY OF THE BLACK PIG THE dews drop slowly and dreams gather: unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes, And then the clash of fallen horsemen and the cries Of unknown perishing armies beat about my ears. We who still labour by the cromlec on the shore, The grey...
From The Green Helmet And Other Poems. Part 04 : p. 164 AT THE ABBEY THEATRE ("Imitated from Ronsard") DEAR Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case. When we are high and airy hundreds say That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place, While those same hundreds mock another day Because we have made our art of common things, So bitterly, you'd...
