In the Seven Woods: watercolour book cover

A collection of poems

In the Seven Woods

190314 poems

Dun Emer Press, Dundrum, August 1903 (first book of the Yeats sisters' press); Macmillan, New York, August 1903 as "In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age".

  1. 1In the Seven WoodsI have heard the pigeons of the Seven WoodsAt Coole, the poet finds a brief peace from public bitterness.
  2. 2The ArrowI thought of your beauty, and this arrow,The poet mourns the first, fierce beauty of the woman he loves.
  3. 3The Folly of being ComfortedOne that is ever kind said yesterday:A kind friend's comfort fails against a lover's fierce devotion.
  4. 4Old MemoryO thought, fly to her when the end of dayThe poet claims a share in a woman's greatness, then softens his reproach.
  5. 5Never give all the HeartNever give all the heart, for loveAdvice against loving too completely, from a man who did.
  6. 6The Withering of the BoughsI cried when the moon was murmuring to the birds:A lonely dreamer's visions of faery are so sad they wither trees.
  7. 7Adam's CurseWe sat together at one summer's end,Poetry, beauty and love all take hard labour, and love has grown weary.
  8. 8Red Hanrahan's Song about IrelandThe old brown thorn trees break in two high over Cummen StrandA wandering poet's song of storm, defeat and loyalty to Ireland.
  9. 9The Old Men admiring Themselves in the WaterI heard the old, old men say,Old men gaze into water and lament that everything drifts away.
  10. 10Under the MoonI have no happiness in dreaming of Brycelinde,A poet finds he can no longer bear to dream of legendary lands.
  11. 11The Ragged WoodO hurry where by water among the trees,A lover wishes that no one had ever loved except the two of them.
  12. 12O do not Love Too LongSweetheart, do not love too long:A jilted lover warns a sweetheart against loving for too long.
  13. 13The Players ask for a Blessing on the Psalteries and on ThemselvesHurry to bless the hands that play,Musicians pray to heaven to bless their hands, which will not outlast their music.
  14. 14The Happy TownlandFrom the play of The Country of the Young.A rider heads for a faery paradise that makes the ordinary world worthless.