New Poems: watercolour book cover

A collection of poems

New Poems

193835 poems0 in full here

Cuala Press, Dublin, May 1938.

  1. 1The GyresThe gyres! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth;As civilisation turns towards violence, the poet chooses tragic joy.
  2. 2Lapis LazuliI have heard that hysterical women sayFacing war and ruin, Yeats finds joy in tragic art and ancient wisdom.
  3. 3Imitated from the JapaneseA most astonishing thingA seventy-year-old marvels that he has never danced for joy.
  4. 4Sweet DancerThe girl goes dancing thereA troubled girl dances on a lawn, and the poet pleads for her.
  5. 5The Three BushesSaid lady once to lover,A lady sends her maid to her lover's bed; three rose bushes mingle.
  6. 6The Lady's First SongI turn roundThe lady of "The Three Bushes" confesses a love that shames her.
  7. 7The Lady's Second SongWhat sort of man is comingThe lady prepares her maid to take her place in the lover's bed.
  8. 8The Lady's Third SongWhen you and my true lover meetThe lady asks her maid to share the lover honourably between them.
  9. 9The Lover's SongBird sighs for the air,A tiny song of longing, and the rest that follows love.
  10. 10The Chambermaid's First SongHow came this rangerA chambermaid watches over the lover who slept with her unknowingly.
  11. 11The Chambermaid's Second SongFrom pleasure of the bed,The chambermaid bluntly sums up her lover after the night.
  12. 12An Acre of GrassPicture and book remain,An old man in a quiet house prays for the frenzy to keep creating.
  13. 13What Then?His chosen comrades thought at schoolA successful life is questioned, stanza by stanza, by Plato's ghost.
  14. 14Beautiful Lofty ThingsBeautiful lofty things: O'Leary's noble head;Yeats recalls five moments of nobility from people he knew.
  15. 15A Crazed GirlThat crazed girl improvising her music,A young woman in breakdown becomes, for Yeats, a heroic, singing figure.
  16. 16To Dorothy WellesleyStretch towards the moonless midnight of the trees,Yeats urges a poet friend to wait at night for the Furies.
  17. 17The Curse of CromwellYou ask what I have found, and far and wide I go:A wandering poet mourns the old Irish order that Cromwell swept away.
  18. 18Roger CasementI say that Roger CasementA street ballad defending Roger Casement against a campaign of slander.
  19. 19The Ghost of Roger CasementO what has made that sudden noise?Casement's ghost haunts John Bull, the self-satisfied figure of England.
  20. 20The O'RahillySing of the O'Rahilly,A ballad for the O'Rahilly, who opposed the Rising, then died in it.
  21. 21Come Gather Round Me, ParnellitesCome gather round me, Parnellites,A drinking song in praise of Parnell, proud leader and lover.
  22. 22The Wild Old Wicked Man'Because I am mad about womenA roving old man courts a pious woman and chooses earthly love.
  23. 23The Great DayHurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!Revolution changes who holds the whip, but never ends the whipping.
  24. 24ParnellParnell came down the road, he said to a cheering man:Parnell tells a cheering labourer that freedom will not end his toil.
  25. 25What was LostI sing what was lost and dread what was won,A singer loyal to a lost king and a lost cause.
  26. 26The SpurYou think it horrible that lust and rageAn old poet defends the lust and rage that drive his song.
  27. 27A Drunken Man's Praise of SobrietyCome swish around, my pretty punk,A drunk man begs his dancing partner to keep him upright.
  28. 28The PilgrimI fasted for some forty days on bread and buttermilk,A pilgrim to Lough Derg finds nonsense everywhere, and says so in the pub.
  29. 29Colonel MartinThe Colonel went out sailing,A Galway ballad of a betrayed husband who gives his damages away.
  30. 30A Model for the LaureateOn thrones from China to PeruA mocking song asking why any decent man keeps his lover waiting.
  31. 31The Old Stone CrossA statesman is an easy man,An ancient ghost in a golden breastplate scorns modern politics, press and theatre.
  32. 32The Spirit MediumPoetry, music, I have loved, and yetA medium haunted by spirits turns from art to digging the garden.
  33. 33Those ImagesWhat if I bade you leaveThe poet urges art away from politics, back to the wild images.
  34. 34The Municipal Gallery RevisitedAround me the images of thirty years:Among portraits of his friends, the old poet asks to be judged by them.
  35. 35Are You Content?I call on those that call me son,The old poet asks his ancestors to judge whether he has done well.