Lines to remember
864 lines from 412 poems, each copied from the poem itself and linked to it. Much that circulates online as Yeats is not his:things Yeats never said.
Crossways (1889)
The woods of Arcady are dead,
The Song of the Happy Shepherd
Words alone are certain good.
The Song of the Happy Shepherd
Dream, dream, for this is also sooth.
The Song of the Happy Shepherd
There was a man whom Sorrow named his friend
The Sad Shepherd
Changed all he sang to inarticulate moan
The Sad Shepherd
I make the cloak of Sorrow:
The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes
Sudden and light.
The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes
The phantom, Beauty, in a mist of tears;
Anashuya and Vijaya
I loved another; now I love no other.
Anashuya and Vijaya
Trouble his sleeping: give him dreams of me.
Anashuya and Vijaya
The rains are from His dripping wing, the moonbeams from His eye.
The Indian upon God
He is a monstrous peacock, and He waveth all the night
The Indian upon God
The island dreams under the dawn
The Indian to his Love
Raging at his own image in the enamelled sea.
The Indian to his Love
Autumn is over the long leaves that love us,
The Falling of the Leaves
The hour of the waning of love has beset us,
The Falling of the Leaves
When the poor tired child, Passion, falls asleep:
Ephemera
Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.
Ephemera
Are love, and a continual farewell.
Ephemera
They will not hush, the leaves a-flutter round me, the beech leaves old.
The Madness of King Goll
A whirling and a wandering fire:
The Madness of King Goll
Arise the leopard-coloured trees,
The Madness of King Goll
Come away, O human child!
The Stolen Child
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
The Stolen Child
Shy one of my heart,
To an Isle in the Water
To an isle in the water
To an Isle in the Water
Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
Down by the Salley Gardens
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
Down by the Salley Gardens
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
Down by the Salley Gardens
When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.
The Meditation of the Old Fisherman
You waves, though you dance by my feet like children at play,
The Meditation of the Old Fisherman
And he wore large holes in his gown.
The Ballad of Father O'Hart
There was no human keening;
The Ballad of Father O'Hart
Who dig old customs up.
The Ballad of Father O'Hart
I lay upon my baby;
The Ballad of Moll Magee
A weary woman sleeps so hard!
The Ballad of Moll Magee
God lights the stars, His candles,
The Ballad of Moll Magee
Huntsman, Rody, blow the horn,
The Ballad of the Foxhunter
I can but weep and sigh.
The Ballad of the Foxhunter
The hounds wail for the dead.
The Ballad of the Foxhunter
The Rose (1893)
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days!
To the Rose upon the Rood of Time
Eternal beauty wandering on her way.
To the Rose upon the Rood of Time
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
To the Rose upon the Rood of Time
A king is but a foolish labourer
Fergus and the Druid
But now I have grown nothing, knowing all,
Fergus and the Druid
Ah! Druid, Druid, how great webs of sorrow
Fergus and the Druid
Cuchulain I, mighty Cuchulain's son.
Cuchulain's Fight with the Sea
The dooms of men are in God's hidden place.
Cuchulain's Fight with the Sea
And fought with the invulnerable tide.
Cuchulain's Fight with the Sea
Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?
The Rose of the World
Lives on this lonely face.
The Rose of the World
He made the world to be a grassy road
The Rose of the World
He would go weave out of the stars
The Rose of Peace
A chaplet for your head.
The Rose of Peace
A peace of Heaven with Hell.
The Rose of Peace
Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
The Rose of Battle
The sad, the lonely, the insatiable,
The Rose of Battle
Beauty grown sad with its eternity
The Rose of Battle
We who are old, old and gay,
A Faery Song
Give to these children, new from the world,
A Faery Song
Is anything better, anything better?
A Faery Song
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
The angels are stooping
A Cradle Song
That I shall miss you
A Cradle Song
When you have grown.
A Cradle Song
A pity beyond all telling
The Pity of Love
Is hid in the heart of love:
The Pity of Love
Threaten the head that I love.
The Pity of Love
A girl arose that had red mournful lips,
The Sorrow of Love
And seemed the greatness of the world in tears.
The Sorrow of Love
Could but compose man's image and his cry.
The Sorrow of Love
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
When You are Old
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
When You are Old
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
When You are Old
I would that we were, my beloved, white birds on the foam of the sea!
The White Birds
I am haunted by numberless islands, and many a Danaan shore,
The White Birds
Where Time would surely forget us, and Sorrow come near us no more;
The White Birds
She was more beautiful than thy first love,
A Dream of Death
But now lies under boards.
A Dream of Death
All the heavy days are over;
The Countess Cathleen in Paradise
Flame to flame and wing to wing.
The Countess Cathleen in Paradise
Who will go drive with Fergus now,
Who goes with Fergus?
Upon Love's bitter mystery;
Who goes with Fergus?
And all dishevelled wandering stars.
Who goes with Fergus?
The singing shook him out of his new ease.
The Man who dreamed of Faeryland
Until He burn up Nature with a kiss:
The Man who dreamed of Faeryland
The man has found no comfort in the grave.
The Man who dreamed of Faeryland
I also bear a bell branch full of ease.
The Dedication to a Book of Stories selected from the Irish Novelists
On Munster grass and Connemara skies.
The Dedication to a Book of Stories selected from the Irish Novelists
I spit into the face of Time
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
That has transfigured me.
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
The old priest Peter Gilligan
The Ballad of Father Gilligan
Had pity on the least of things
The Ballad of Father Gilligan
Asleep upon a chair.
The Ballad of Father Gilligan
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The Two Trees
Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The Two Trees
The ravens of unresting thought;
The Two Trees
When we bent down above the fading coals;
To Some I have Talked with by the Fire
Of their long wings, the flash of their white feet.
To Some I have Talked with by the Fire
I cast my heart into my rhymes,
To Ireland in the Coming Times
Is but the winking of an eye;
To Ireland in the Coming Times
After the red-rose-bordered hem.
To Ireland in the Coming Times
The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)
And Niamh calling Away, come away:
The Hosting of the Sidhe
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The Hosting of the Sidhe
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The Hosting of the Sidhe
O sweet everlasting Voices, be still;
The Everlasting Voices
Have you not heard that our hearts are old,
The Everlasting Voices
Time drops in decay,
The Moods
Of the fire-born moods
The Moods
All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
The Lover tells of the Rose in his Heart
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.
The Lover tells of the Rose in his Heart
And never was piping so sad,
The Host of the Air
And never was piping so gay.
The Host of the Air
Were gone like a drifting smoke;
The Host of the Air
The people of coming days will know
The Fish
And blame you with many bitter words.
The Fish
The Danaan children laugh, in cradles of wrought gold,
The Unappeasable Host
Is comelier than candles at Mother Mary's feet.
The Unappeasable Host
Out-worn heart, in a time out-worn,
Into the Twilight
And love is less kind than the grey twilight
Into the Twilight
Because a fire was in my head,
The Song of Wandering Aengus
The silver apples of the moon,
The Song of Wandering Aengus
The golden apples of the sun.
The Song of Wandering Aengus
While I must work because I am old,
The Song of the Old Mother
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.
The Song of the Old Mother
The shadowy blossom of my hair
The Heart of the Woman
My breath is mixed into his breath.
The Heart of the Woman
Pale brows, still hands and dim hair,
The Lover mourns for the Loss of Love
She has gone weeping away.
The Lover mourns for the Loss of Love
Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns!
He mourns for the Change that has come upon Him and his Beloved, and longs for the End of the World
And Time and Birth and Change are hurrying by.
He mourns for the Change that has come upon Him and his Beloved, and longs for the End of the World
I hear the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,
He bids his Beloved be at Peace
The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay:
He bids his Beloved be at Peace
O curlew, cry no more in the air,
He reproves the Curlew
There is enough evil in the crying of wind.
He reproves the Curlew
I hear white Beauty sighing, too,
He remembers forgotten Beauty
For hours when all must fade like dew,
He remembers forgotten Beauty
I bring you with reverent hands
A Poet to his Beloved
I bring you my passionate rhyme.
A Poet to his Beloved
Fasten your hair with a golden pin,
He gives his Beloved certain Rhymes
Live but to light your passing feet.
He gives his Beloved certain Rhymes
Be you still, be you still, trembling heart;
To his Heart, bidding it have no Fear
With the lonely, majestical multitude.
To his Heart, bidding it have no Fear
The jester walked in the garden:
The Cap and Bells
And the quiet of love in her feet.
The Cap and Bells
Being weary of the world's empires, bow down to you,
The Valley of the Black Pig
Master of the still stars and of the flaming door.
The Valley of the Black Pig
O Hearts of wind-blown flame!
The Lover asks Forgiveness because of his Many Moods
And trouble with a sigh for all things longing for rest
The Lover asks Forgiveness because of his Many Moods
I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs,
He tells of a Valley full of Lovers
Till all the valleys of the world have been withered away.
He tells of a Valley full of Lovers
To build a perfect beauty in rhyme
He tells of the Perfect Beauty
Are overthrown by a woman's gaze
He tells of the Perfect Beauty
Where wind cries in the sedge:
He hears the Cry of the Sedge
Your breast will not lie by the breast
He hears the Cry of the Sedge
I made it out of a mouthful of air,
He thinks of those who have Spoken Evil of his Beloved
Their children's children shall say they have lied.
He thinks of those who have Spoken Evil of his Beloved
With the secrets of God in his eyes.
The Blessed
And blessedness goes where the wind goes,
The Blessed
The Incorruptible Rose,
The Blessed
Far off, most secret, and inviolate Rose,
The Secret Rose
And lost the world and Emer for a kiss;
The Secret Rose
Like the sparks blown out of a smithy, and die?
The Secret Rose
Where has Maid Quiet gone to,
Maid Quiet
Are blowing through my blood.
Maid Quiet
When an immortal passion breathes in mortal clay;
The Travail of Passion
Lilies of death-pale hope, roses of passionate dream.
The Travail of Passion
Time's bitter flood will rise,
The Lover pleads with his Friend for Old Friends
For all eyes but these eyes.
The Lover pleads with his Friend for Old Friends
O women, kneeling by your altar rails long hence,
The Lover speaks to the Hearers of his Songs in Coming Days
Bend down and pray for all that sin I wove in song,
The Lover speaks to the Hearers of his Songs in Coming Days
Encircle her I love and sing her into peace,
The Poet pleads with the Elemental Powers
But let a gentle silence wrought with music flow
The Poet pleads with the Elemental Powers
Were you but lying cold and dead,
He wishes his Beloved were Dead
Though you have the will of the wild birds,
He wishes his Beloved were Dead
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
I have drunk ale from the Country of the Young
He thinks of his Past Greatness when a Part of the Constellations of Heaven
And weep because I know all things now:
He thinks of his Past Greatness when a Part of the Constellations of Heaven
When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
The Fiddler of Dooney
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
The Fiddler of Dooney
For the good are always the merry,
The Fiddler of Dooney
In the Seven Woods (1903)
I have heard the pigeons of the Seven Woods
In the Seven Woods
Make their faint thunder, and the garden bees
In the Seven Woods
A cloudy quiver over Parc-na-Lee.
In the Seven Woods
I thought of your beauty, and this arrow,
The Arrow
Delicate in colour as apple blossom.
The Arrow
When all the wild summer was in her gaze.
The Folly of being Comforted
O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head,
The Folly of being Comforted
You'd know the folly of being comforted.
The Folly of being Comforted
O thought, fly to her when the end of day
Old Memory
For when we have blamed the wind we can blame love;
Old Memory
Never give all the heart, for love
Never give all the Heart
For he gave all his heart and lost.
Never give all the Heart
I long for your merry and tender and pitiful words,
The Withering of the Boughs
The boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams.
The Withering of the Boughs
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Adam's Curse
That we must labour to be beautiful.
Adam's Curse
As weary hearted as that hollow moon.
Adam's Curse
Our courage breaks like an old tree in a black wind and dies;
Red Hanrahan's Song about Ireland
Of Cathleen the daughter of Houlihan.
Red Hanrahan's Song about Ireland
Everything alters,
The Old Men admiring Themselves in the Water
All that's beautiful drifts away
The Old Men admiring Themselves in the Water
I have no happiness in dreaming of Brycelinde,
Under the Moon
To dream of women whose beauty was folded in dismay,
Under the Moon
Even in an old story, is a burden not to be borne.
Under the Moon
O my share of the world, O yellow hair,
The Ragged Wood
No one has ever loved but you and I!
The Ragged Wood
Sweetheart, do not love too long:
O do not Love Too Long
Like an old song.
O do not Love Too Long
The notes they waken shall live on
The Players ask for a Blessing on the Psalteries and on Themselves
Our hands, our hands must ebb away.
The Players ask for a Blessing on the Psalteries and on Themselves
There's many a strong farmer
The Happy Townland
O what is the world's bane?
The Happy Townland
That is the world's bane.
The Happy Townland
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
What is the figure in a shroud
His Dream
By the sweet name of Death.
His Dream
He shadowed in a glass
A Woman Homer sung
A woman Homer sung,
A Woman Homer sung
But an heroic dream.
A Woman Homer sung
In this blind bitter land.
Words
I might have thrown poor words away
Words
And been content to live.
Words
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
No Second Troy
Why, what could she have done being what she is?
No Second Troy
Was there another Troy for her to burn?
No Second Troy
Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit.
Reconciliation
My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.
Reconciliation
The hourly kindness, the day's common speech,
King and no King
The habitual content of each with each
King and no King
When neither soul nor body has been crossed.
King and no King
All that sternness amid charm,
Peace
All that sweetness amid strength?
Peace
Came when Time had touched her form.
Peace
A dream that a lion had dreamed
Against Unworthy Praise
Between the proud and the proud.
Against Unworthy Praise
Half lion, half child, is at peace.
Against Unworthy Praise
The fascination of what's difficult
The Fascination of What's Difficult
Theatre business, management of men.
The Fascination of What's Difficult
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.
The Fascination of What's Difficult
Wine comes in at the mouth
A Drinking Song
And love comes in at the eye;
A Drinking Song
Now I may wither into the truth.
The Coming of Wisdom with Time
Though leaves are many, the root is one;
The Coming of Wisdom with Time
To shake their wicked sides at youth
On hearing that the Students of our New University have joined the Agitation against Immoral Literature
Restraining reckless middle-age.
On hearing that the Students of our New University have joined the Agitation against Immoral Literature
But was there ever dog that praised his fleas?
To a Poet, who would have me Praise certain Bad Poets, Imitators of His and Mine
"Put off that mask of burning gold
The Mask
It was the mask engaged your mind,
The Mask
Where passion and precision have been one
Upon a House shaken by the Land Agitation
To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun?
Upon a House shaken by the Land Agitation
Is there a bridle for this Proteus
At the Abbey Theatre
But when they mock us that we mock again?
At the Abbey Theatre
These are the clouds about the fallen sun,
These are the Clouds
The majesty that shuts his burning eye:
These are the Clouds
Delight makes all of the one mind,
At Galway Races
Before the merchant and the clerk
At Galway Races
We'll learn that sleeping is not death,
At Galway Races
Why should I be dismayed
A Friend's Illness
Against a soul?
A Friend's Illness
All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:
All Things can tempt Me
Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.
All Things can tempt Me
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
Brown Penny
Oh, love is the crooked thing,
Brown Penny
One cannot begin it too soon.
Brown Penny
Responsibilities (1914)
"Only the wasteful virtues earn the sun";
Introductory Rhymes
I have no child, I have nothing but a book,
Introductory Rhymes
Nothing but that to prove your blood and mine.
Introductory Rhymes
Poets with whom I learned my trade,
The Grey Rock
You kept the Muses' sterner laws,
The Grey Rock
Why must the lasting love what passes,
The Grey Rock
But the right twigs for an eagle's nest!
To a Wealthy Man who promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if it were proved the People wanted Pictures
Look up in the sun's eye and give
To a Wealthy Man who promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if it were proved the People wanted Pictures
Delight in Art whose end is peace,
To a Wealthy Man who promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if it were proved the People wanted Pictures
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
September 1913
It's with O'Leary in the grave.
September 1913
All that delirium of the brave;
September 1913
Be secret and take defeat
To a Friend whose Work has come to Nothing
Be secret and exult,
To a Friend whose Work has come to Nothing
That is most difficult.
To a Friend whose Work has come to Nothing
A single soul that lacks a sweet crystalline cry.
Paudeen
(I wonder if the builder has been paid)
To a Shade
Away, away! You are safer in the tomb.
To a Shade
Where Helen walked with her boy,
When Helen lived
A word and a jest.
When Helen lived
Upon great Juan riding by:
On those that hated 'The Playboy of the Western World', 1907
Do men who least desire get most,
The Three Beggars
They were commingling lice and blood.
The Three Beggars
If but I do not seem to care.
The Three Beggars
Giddy with his hundredth year,
The Three Hermits
Sang unnoticed like a bird.
The Three Hermits
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
Beggar to Beggar cried
But there's a devil in a looking-glass.
Beggar to Beggar cried
The wind-blown clamor of the barnacle-geese.
Beggar to Beggar cried
For I am running to Paradise;
Running to Paradise
And there the king is but as the beggar.
Running to Paradise
That nobody can buy or bind:
Running to Paradise
In the bad hour before the dawn.
The Hour before Dawn
For all life longs for the Last Day
The Hour before Dawn
The clouds were brightening with the dawn.
The Hour before Dawn
Was born to wear a crown.
A Song from 'The Player Queen'
The golden top of care?
A Song from 'The Player Queen'
Hope that you may understand!
The Realists
With the dragons?
The Realists
Toil, and grow rich,
The Witch
With a foul witch
The Witch
With the pride of his eye?
The Peacock
Adding feather to feather
The Peacock
Our Father Rosicross is in his tomb.
The Mountain Tomb
All wisdom shut into his onyx eyes
The Mountain Tomb
Dance there upon the shore;
To a Child dancing in the Wind
Love lost as soon as won,
To a Child dancing in the Wind
The monstrous crying of wind?
To a Child dancing in the Wind
Suffer as your mother suffered,
Two Years Later
But I am old and you are young,
Two Years Later
And I speak a barbarous tongue.
Two Years Later
Suddenly hid love's moon away.
A Memory of Youth
That even the best of love must die,
A Memory of Youth
Of a most ridiculous little bird
A Memory of Youth
Babbling of fallen majesty, records what's gone.
Fallen Majesty
Whereon a thing once walked that seemed a burning cloud.
Fallen Majesty
Mind and delighted mind;
Friends
Labouring in ecstasy.
Friends
I shake from head to foot.
Friends
Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting Heaven
The Cold Heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
The Cold Heaven
She lived in storm and strife,
That the Night come
To bundle time away
That the Night come
That the night come.
That the Night come
Being out of heart with government
An Appointment
No government appointed him.
An Appointment
Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
The Magi
With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
The Magi
The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.
The Magi
A noisy and filthy thing.
The Dolls
"My dear, my dear, oh dear,
The Dolls
It was an accident."
The Dolls
I made my song a coat
A Coat
In walking naked.
A Coat
A sterner conscience and a friendlier home,
Closing Rhyme
Are but a post the passing dogs defile.
Closing Rhyme
The Wild Swans at Coole (1917)
Are nine and fifty swans.
The Wild Swans at Coole
Their hearts have not grown old;
The Wild Swans at Coole
To find they have flown away?
The Wild Swans at Coole
Our Sidney and our perfect man,
In Memory of Major Robert Gregory
Soldier, scholar, horseman, he,
In Memory of Major Robert Gregory
What made us dream that he could comb grey hair?
In Memory of Major Robert Gregory
A lonely impulse of delight
An Irish Airman foresees his Death
Those that I fight I do not hate,
An Irish Airman foresees his Death
In balance with this life, this death.
An Irish Airman foresees his Death
I am worn out with dreams;
Men improve with the Years
For men improve with the years;
Men improve with the Years
When I had my burning youth;
Men improve with the Years
And pay but a kiss for a kiss.
The Collar-bone of a Hare
At the old bitter world where they marry in churches,
The Collar-bone of a Hare
Through the white thin bone of a hare.
The Collar-bone of a Hare
Hands gripped in hands, toes close together,
Under the Round Tower
Could like a brace of blackbirds sing.
Under the Round Tower
On great-grandfather's battered tomb."
Under the Round Tower
Like an old horse in a pound."
Solomon to Sheba
There's not a thing but love can make
Solomon to Sheba
The world a narrow pound."
Solomon to Sheba
The living beauty is for younger men,
The Living Beauty
We cannot pay its tribute of wild tears.
The Living Beauty
That the heart grows old?
A Song
I have not lost desire
A Song
Choose your companions from the best;
To a Young Beauty
There is not a fool can call me friend,
To a Young Beauty
With Landor and with Donne.
To a Young Beauty
Who broke my heart for her
To a Young Girl
And glittered in her eyes.
To a Young Girl
Bald heads forgetful of their sins,
The Scholars
Lord, what would they say
The Scholars
Should their Catullus walk that way?
The Scholars
An aimless joy is a pure joy,
Tom O'Roughley
And wisdom is a butterfly
Tom O'Roughley
What's dying but a second wind?
Tom O'Roughley
The exultation of their stone, that cried
Shepherd and Goatherd
Of sorrowful, austere, sweet, lofty pipe tunes.
Shepherd and Goatherd
He grows younger every second
Shepherd and Goatherd
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
Lines written in Dejection
I must endure the timid sun.
Lines written in Dejection
I would be ignorant as the dawn
The Dawn
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.
The Dawn
May God be praised for woman
On Woman
Shudder that made them one.
On Woman
The Pestle of the moon
On Woman
To write for my own race
The Fisherman
A man who does not exist,
The Fisherman
And passionate as the dawn.
The Fisherman
Call down the hawk from the air;
The Hawk
Yellow-eyed hawk of the mind,
The Hawk
A pretence of wit.
The Hawk
Cannot but keep the form
Memory
Where the mountain hare has lain.
Memory
She is foremost of those that I would hear praised.
Her Praise
Among the poor both old and young gave her praise.
Her Praise
Where who has served the most is most defamed,
The People
Complained of the people.
The People
Can have the purity of a natural force,
The People
I knew a phoenix in my youth so let them have their day.
His Phoenix
And that proud look as though she had gazed into the burning sun,
His Phoenix
I mourn for that most lonely thing; and yet God's will be done,
His Phoenix
At Pallas Athene's side,
A Thought from Propertius
Drunk with the unmixed wine.
A Thought from Propertius
There is grey in your hair.
Broken Dreams
By merely walking in a room.
Broken Dreams
Vague memories, nothing but memories.
Broken Dreams
Suddenly I meet your face.
A Deep-sworn Vow
Returned and yet unrequited love.
Presences
And one it may be a queen.
Presences
Bring the balloon of the mind
The Balloon of the Mind
Come play with me;
To a Squirrel at Kyle-na-no
And let you go.
To a Squirrel at Kyle-na-no
I think it better that in times like these
On being asked for a War Poem
A poet keep his mouth shut, for in truth
On being asked for a War Poem
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
On being asked for a War Poem
Who had ended where his breath began.
In Memory of Alfred Pollexfen
A nobody in a great throng,
In Memory of Alfred Pollexfen
And with that cry I have raised my cry.
In Memory of Alfred Pollexfen
With the old kindness, the old distinguished grace
Her Courtesy
Thinking of saints and of Petronius Arbiter.
Her Courtesy
We have given the world our passion,
Certain Artists bring her Dolls and Drawings
We have naught for death but toys.
Certain Artists bring her Dolls and Drawings
We and our dolls being but the world were best away.
She turns the Dolls' Faces to the Wall
She is playing like a child
The End of Day
"Come in and leave the play."
The End of Day
With her dead brother's valour
Her Race
I have no speech but symbol, the pagan speech I made
Her Courage
Who have lived in joy and laughed into the face of Death.
Her Courage
Pardon great enemy,
Her Friends bring her a Christmas Tree
It is about to die.
Her Friends bring her a Christmas Tree
I call to my own opposite, summon all
Ego Dominus Tuus
The struggle of the fly in marmalade.
Ego Dominus Tuus
Because I seek an image not a book.
Ego Dominus Tuus
God grant a blessing on this tower and cottage
A Prayer on going into my House
Manacle his soul upon the Red Sea bottom.
A Prayer on going into my House
Twenty-and-eight the phases of the moon,
The Phases of the Moon
Hunchback and saint and fool are the last crescents.
The Phases of the Moon
The light in the tower window was put out.
The Phases of the Moon
The cat went here and there
The Cat and the Moon
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
The Cat and the Moon
His changing eyes.
The Cat and the Moon
A Roman Caesar is held down
The Saint and the Hunchback
God tries each man
The Saint and the Hunchback
That great rogue Alcibiades.
The Saint and the Hunchback
A speckled cat and a tame hare
Two Songs of a Fool
The horn's sweet note and the tooth of the hound.
Two Songs of a Fool
My great responsibilities.
Two Songs of a Fool
This great purple butterfly,
Another Song of a Fool
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet,
Another Song of a Fool
To take the roses for his meat.
Another Song of a Fool
On the grey rock of Cashel the mind's eye
The Double Vision of Michael Robartes
For those that love are sad.
The Double Vision of Michael Robartes
Were dead yet flesh and bone.
The Double Vision of Michael Robartes
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
Opinion is not worth a rush;
Michael Robartes and the Dancer
Go pluck Athena by the hair;
Michael Robartes and the Dancer
They say such different things at school.
Michael Robartes and the Dancer
Howled, miau-d, barked, brayed, belled, yelled, cried, crowed,
Solomon and the Witch
When oil and wick are burned in one;
Solomon and the Witch
Oh, Solomon! let us try again.
Solomon and the Witch
A sweetheart from another life floats there
An Image from a Past Life
Among the starry eddies of her hair
An Image from a Past Life
Of the hovering thing night brought me.
An Image from a Past Life
Do not because this day I have grown saturnine
Under Saturn
And surely after twenty years it was time to come.
Under Saturn
Never to leave that valley his fathers called their home.
Under Saturn
A terrible beauty is born.
Easter, 1916
All changed, changed utterly:
Easter, 1916
Too long a sacrifice
Easter, 1916
The sixteen men were shot,
Sixteen Dead Men
MacDonagh's bony thumb?
Sixteen Dead Men
That converse bone to bone.
Sixteen Dead Men
"O words are lightly spoken,"
The Rose Tree
There's nothing but our own red blood
The Rose Tree
Can make a right Rose Tree.
The Rose Tree
Became a bitter, an abstract thing,
On a Political Prisoner
Blind and leader of the blind
On a Political Prisoner
Like any rock-bred, sea-borne bird:
On a Political Prisoner
Truth flourishes where the student's lamp has shone,
The Leaders of the Crowd
And heartier loves; that lamp is from the tomb.
The Leaders of the Crowd
Nothing that we love over-much
Towards Break of Day
Is ponderable to our touch.
Towards Break of Day
The marvellous stag of Arthur,
Towards Break of Day
That crafty demon and that loud beast
Demon and Beast
To make it linger half a day.
Demon and Beast
What had the Caesars but their thrones?
Demon and Beast
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
The Second Coming
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
The Second Coming
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The Second Coming
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
A Prayer for my Daughter
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
A Prayer for my Daughter
How but in custom and in ceremony
A Prayer for my Daughter
I knew that One is animate
A Meditation in Time of War
Mankind inanimate fantasy.
A Meditation in Time of War
I, the poet William Yeats,
To be Carved on a Stone at Thoor Ballylee
When all is ruin once again.
To be Carved on a Stone at Thoor Ballylee
The Tower (1928)
That is no country for old men.
Sailing to Byzantium
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
Sailing to Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
Sailing to Byzantium
What shall I do with this absurdity
The Tower
Decrepit age that has been tied to me
The Tower
Translunar Paradise.
The Tower
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
Meditations in Time of Civil War
We had fed the heart on fantasies,
Meditations in Time of Civil War
The heart's grown brutal from the fare;
Meditations in Time of Civil War
Now days are dragon-ridden, the nightmare
Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
Man is in love and loves what vanishes,
Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
Who are but weasels fighting in a hole.
Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
Through winter-time we call on spring,
The Wheel
Is but its longing for the tomb.
The Wheel
Much did I rage when young,
Youth and Age
It speeds the parting guest.
Youth and Age
Where we wrought that shall break the teeth of time.
The New Faces
The living seem more shadowy than they.
The New Faces
Bid a strong ghost stand at the head
A Prayer for my Son
Wailing upon a woman's knee,
A Prayer for my Son
With human love.
A Prayer for my Son
As though God's death were but a play.
Two Songs from a Play
Another Troy must rise and set,
Two Songs from a Play
Odour of blood when Christ was slain
Two Songs from a Play
Locke sank into a swoon;
Fragments
God took the spinning-jenny
Fragments
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Leda and the Swan
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
Leda and the Swan
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Leda and the Swan
My works are all stamped down into the sultry mud.
On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac
I knew that horse play, knew it for a murderous thing.
On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac
I have loved you better than my soul for all my words,
On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac
A sixty year old smiling public man.
Among School Children
O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,
Among School Children
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Among School Children
Come praise Colonus' horses and come praise
Colonus' Praise
The great grey-eyed Athene stares thereon.
Colonus' Praise
Of horses and horses of the sea, white horses.
Colonus' Praise
The true faith discovered was
Wisdom
Miracle had its playtime where
Wisdom
Drove horror from His Mother's breast.
Wisdom
I rage at my own image in the glass,
The Hero, the Girl, and the Fool
That only God has loved us for ourselves,
The Hero, the Girl, and the Fool
A faithful love, a faithful love.
The Hero, the Girl, and the Fool
I ran, I ran, from my love's side because my Heart went mad.
Owen Aherne and his Dancers
How could she mate with fifty years that was so wildly bred?
Owen Aherne and his Dancers
Let the cage bird and the cage bird mate and the wild bird mate in the wild.
Owen Aherne and his Dancers
In beauty's murderous brood,
First Love
And found a heart of stone
First Love
For every hand is lunatic
First Love
Like the moon her kindness is,
Human Dignity
Upon a painted wall.
Human Dignity
From human dignity.
Human Dignity
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
The Mermaid
Forgot in cruel happiness
The Mermaid
That even lovers drown.
The Mermaid
I have pointed out the yelling pack,
The Death of the Hare
And I remember wildness lost
The Death of the Hare
At the death of the hare.
The Death of the Hare
A crazy man that found a cup,
The Empty Cup
October last I found it too
The Empty Cup
But found it dry as bone,
The Empty Cup
My arms are like the twisted thorn
His Memories
And yet there beauty lay;
His Memories
Strike me if I shriek.
His Memories
Laughter not time destroyed my voice
The Friends of his Youth
Thinks that the stone's a child.
The Friends of his Youth
And that he shrieks from pride.
The Friends of his Youth
Knew that we'd halved a soul
Summer and Spring
When we had all the summer time
Summer and Spring
And she had all the spring.
Summer and Spring
I have old women's secrets now
The Secrets of the Old
We three make up a solitude;
The Secrets of the Old
Sounds like an old song.
The Secrets of the Old
O bid me mount and sail up there
His Wildness
Have changed their silk for sack.
His Wildness
Being all alone I'd nurse a stone
His Wildness
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
From 'Oedipus at Colonus'
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.
From 'Oedipus at Colonus'
The three old rascals laugh aloud.
The Three Monuments
Midnight has come and the great Christ Church Bell,
All Souls' Night
I have mummy truths to tell
All Souls' Night
It seemed a gold-fish swimming in a bowl.
All Souls' Night
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz
The innocent and the beautiful
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz
Have no enemy but time;
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz
Man has created death.
Death
A great man in his pride
Death
I am content to live it all again
A Dialogue of Self and Soul
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
A Dialogue of Self and Soul
Everything we look upon is blest.
A Dialogue of Self and Soul
Half dead at the top.
Blood and the Moon
I declare this tower is my symbol; I declare
Blood and the Moon
For wisdom is the property of the dead,
Blood and the Moon
Their shrouds are bloody and their lips are wet.
Oil and Blood
A pattern on a napkin dipped in blood.
Veronica's Napkin
Beauty and fool together laid.
Symbols
Like milk spilt on a stone.
Spilt Milk
The rattle of pebbles on the shore
The Nineteenth Century and After
'Those Platonists are a curse,' he said,
Statistics
What are all those fish that lie gasping on the strand?
Three Movements
They understood that wisdom comes of beggary.
The Seven Sages
Crazed through much child-bearing
The Crazed Moon
They came like swallows and like swallows went,
Coole Park, 1929
A moment's memory to that laurelled head.
Coole Park, 1929
What's water but the generated soul?
Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931
We were the last romantics
Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931
And not your yellow hair.
For Anne Gregory
Imitate him if you dare,
Swift's Epitaph
Served human liberty.
Swift's Epitaph
But actual shells of Rosses' level shore.
At Algeciras - a Meditation upon Death
Perfection of the life, or of the work,
The Choice
The intellect of man is forced to choose
The Choice
Men dance on deathless feet.
Mohini Chatterjee
Birth-hour and death-hour meet,
Mohini Chatterjee
The fury and the mire of human veins.
Byzantium
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.
Byzantium
The Heavens in my womb.
The Mother of God
Proud, open-eyed and laughing to the tomb.
Vacillation
What theme had Homer but original sin?
Vacillation
Targeted, trod like Spring.
Quarrel in Old Age
Bitter glory wrecked.
The Results of Thought
All things hang like a drop of dew
Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors
Great hatred, little room,
Remorse for Intemperate Speech
Repentance keeps my heart impure;
Stream and Sun at Glendalough
The solid man and the coxcomb.
Crazy Jane and the Bishop
A roaring, ranting journeyman.
Crazy Jane Reproved
If Time were but gone.
Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgment
For love is but a skein unwound
Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman
All things remain in God.
Crazy Jane on God
Fair and foul are near of kin,
Crazy Jane talks with the Bishop
For nothing can be sole or whole
Crazy Jane talks with the Bishop
Love is like the lion's tooth.
Crazy Jane grown old looks at the Dancers
Saw I an old man young
Girl's Song
Before the world was made.
Young Man's Song
All true love must die,
Her Anxiety
Love leaps upon its course.
His Confidence
Dread has followed longing,
Love's Loneliness
Berenice's burning hair.
Her Dream
Who talks of Plato's spindle;
His Bargain
A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.
Three Things
Beloved, may your sleep be sound
Lullaby
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
After Long Silence
Mad as the mist and snow.
Mad as the Mist and Snow
I carry the sun in a golden cup,
Those Dancing Days are gone
'I am of Ireland,
'I am of Ireland'
Acclaiming, proclaiming, declaiming Him.
The Dancer at Cruachan and Cro-Patrick
Stands in God's unchanging eye
Tom the Lunatic
Mounted the mare of Time,
Tom at Cruachan
Things out of perfection sail,
Old Tom again
Behold that great Plotinus swim,
The Delphic Oracle upon Plotinus
Cold as the March wind his eyes.
Father and Child
I'm looking for the face I had
Before the World was made
Before the world was made.
Before the World was made
To the craving in my bones.
A First Confession
And broke the chain and set my ankles free,
Her Triumph
And a miraculous strange bird shrieks at us.
Her Triumph
That the crime of being born
Consolation
The crime can be forgot.
Consolation
The lot of love is chosen. I learnt that much
Chosen
The Zodiac is changed into a sphere.
Chosen
That light is from the moon.
Parting
My dark declivities.
Parting
A thoughtless image of Mantegna's thought
Her Vision in the Wood
But my heart's victim and its torturer.
Her Vision in the Wood
Beast gave beast as much.
A Last Confession
Naked to naked goes,
A Last Confession
Hidden by old age awhile
Meeting
This beggarly habiliment
Meeting
Had found a sweeter word.
Meeting
Overcome - O bitter sweetness,
From the 'Antigone'
Pray I will and sing I must,
From the 'Antigone'
Descends into the loveless dust.
From the 'Antigone'
A Full Moon in March (1935)
An age is the reversal of an age:
Parnell's Funeral
Had de Valera eaten Parnell's heart
Parnell's Funeral
Down to the tune of O'Donnell Abu.
Three Songs to the Same Tune
Where are the captains that govern mankind?
Three Songs to the Same Tune
A slow low note and an iron bell.
Alternative Song for the Severed Head in 'The King of the Great Clock Tower'
What says the Clock in the Great Clock Tower?
Alternative Song for the Severed Head in 'The King of the Great Clock Tower'
My Paistin Finn is my sole desire,
Two Songs Rewritten for the Tune's Sake
Tomorrow night I will break down the door.
Two Songs Rewritten for the Tune's Sake
Thinks in a marrow-bone;
A Prayer for Old Age
A foolish, passionate man.
A Prayer for Old Age
Here is fresh matter, poet,
Church and State
Bread taste sour.
Church and State
For the intercourse of angels is a light
Ribh at the Tomb of Baile and Aillinn
Nor straining joy, but whole is joined to whole;
Ribh at the Tomb of Baile and Aillinn
For things below are copies, the Great Smaragdine Tablet said.
Ribh denounces Patrick
And must the common round of day resume.
Ribh in Ecstasy
There all the gyres converge in one,
There
Hatred of God may bring the soul to God.
Ribh considers Christian Love insufficient
I study hatred with great diligence,
Ribh considers Christian Love insufficient
'I am I, am I;
He and She
What from the forest came? What beast has licked its young?
What Magic Drum?
Eternity is passion, girl or boy
Whence had they Come?
At stroke of midnight God shall win.
The Four Ages of Man
What a crop of mummy wheat!
Conjunctions
Came out of a needle's eye;
A Needle's Eye
Egypt and Greece, good-bye, and good-bye, Rome!
Meru
New Poems (1938)
We that look on but laugh in tragic joy.
The Gyres
The gyres! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth;
The Gyres
Gaiety transfiguring all that dread.
Lapis Lazuli
All things fall and are built again,
Lapis Lazuli
And never have I danced for joy.
Imitated from the Japanese
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!
Sweet Dancer
Know where its roots began.
The Three Bushes
And that is my shame.
The Lady's First Song
Which is the more blest?
The Lady's Second Song
A contrapuntal serpent hiss,
The Lady's Third Song
On straining thighs.
The Lover's Song
Weak as a worm.
The Chambermaid's First Song
Blind as a worm.
The Chambermaid's Second Song
Grant me an old man's frenzy,
An Acre of Grass
An old man's eagle mind.
An Acre of Grass
'What then?' sang Plato's ghost. 'What then?'
What Then?
Beautiful lofty things: O'Leary's noble head;
Beautiful Lofty Things
All the Olympians; a thing never known again.
Beautiful Lofty Things
A beautiful lofty thing, or a thing
A Crazed Girl
The Proud Furies each with her torch on high.
To Dorothy Wellesley
And we and all the Muses are things of no account.
The Curse of Cromwell
To this most gallant gentleman
Roger Casement
Is beating on the door.
The Ghost of Roger Casement
Because I helped to wind the clock
The O'Rahilly
And Parnell loved his country,
Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites
And a proud man's a lovely man,
Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites
Daybreak and a candle-end.
The Wild Old Wicked Man
I choose the second-best,
The Wild Old Wicked Man
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
The Great Day
Ireland shall get her freedom and you still break stone.
Parnell
I sing what was lost and dread what was won,
What was Lost
What else have I to spur me into song?
The Spur
And all dead men are drunk.
A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety
Is fol de rol de rolly O.
The Pilgrim
The Colonel went out sailing.
Colonel Martin
The Muse is mute when public men
A Model for the Laureate
A statesman is an easy man,
The Old Stone Cross
I bend my body to the spade
The Spirit Medium
Call the Muses home.
Those Images
And say my glory was I had such friends.
The Municipal Gallery Revisited
The poets have imagined, terrible and gay.
The Municipal Gallery Revisited
I cannot, but I am not content.
Are You Content?
Last Poems (1939)
From mountain to mountain ride the fierce horsemen.
Three Songs to the One Burden
That the adventure of old age begins.
In Tara's Halls
When Pearse summoned Cuchulain to his side.
The Statues
We Irish, born into that ancient sect
The Statues
There all the golden codgers lay,
News for the Delphic Oracle
Remember all those renowned generations,
Three Marching Songs
Robbers had taken his old tambourine,
Three Marching Songs
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
Long-legged Fly
His mind moves upon silence.
Long-legged Fly
Human, superhuman, a bird's round eye,
A Bronze Head
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.
A Bronze Head
But liked the way his finger smelt.
A Stick of Incense
What shall I do for pretty girls
John Kinsella's Lament for Mrs. Mary Moore
Those images that waken in the blood.
Hound Voice
Malachi Stilt-Jack am I, whatever I learned has run wild,
High Talk
I, through the terrible novelty of light, stalk on, stalk on;
High Talk
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
The Apparitions
Can there be mercy in that look?
A Nativity
Why should not old men be mad?
Why should not Old Men be Mad?
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.
The Statesman's Holiday
And he stuck to his throne.
Crazy Jane on the Mountain
In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
The Circus Animals' Desertion
Those masterful images because complete
The Circus Animals' Desertion
But O that I were young again
Politics
And held her in my arms!
Politics
Did that play of mine send out
The Man and the Echo
They had changed their throats and had the throats of birds.
Cuchulain Comforted
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
The Black Tower
Cast a cold eye
Under Ben Bulben
Horseman, pass by!
Under Ben Bulben
Narrative and Dramatic Poems
You who are bent, and bald, and blind,
The Wanderings of Oisin
For joy is God and God is joy.
The Wanderings of Oisin
And dwell in the house of the Fenians, be they in flames or at feast.
The Wanderings of Oisin
Maeve the great queen was pacing to and fro,
The Old Age of Queen Maeve
Friend of these many years, you too had stood
The Old Age of Queen Maeve
A murmur of soft words and meeting lips.
The Old Age of Queen Maeve
I hardly hear the curlew cry,
Baile and Aillinn
They blossomed to immortal mirth.
Baile and Aillinn
Ah! wise, my heart knows well how wise.
Baile and Aillinn
I walked among the seven woods of Coole,
The Shadowy Waters (Introductory Lines)
Seven odours, seven murmurs, seven woods.
The Shadowy Waters (Introductory Lines)
Is Eden out of time and out of space?
The Shadowy Waters (Introductory Lines)
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
The Harp of Aengus
Because her hands had been made wild by love.
The Harp of Aengus
But faithful lovers.
The Harp of Aengus
Whiter than curds, its eyes the tint of the sea.
The Two Kings
Knowing that silence brings no good to kings,
The Two Kings
She builds her nest upon a narrow ledge
The Two Kings
Self-born, high-born, and solitary truths,
The Gift of Harun Al-Rashid
All, all those gyres and cubes and midnight things
The Gift of Harun Al-Rashid
A woman's beauty is a storm-tossed banner;
The Gift of Harun Al-Rashid
Early and uncollected poems
But soulless a faery dies,
Song of the Faeries
So let us dance where the yellow lance
Song of the Faeries
And they'll answer Death and Love.
Love and Death
Are the spirits Love and Death.
Love and Death
Men call me Infamy.
The Seeker
What! Lover, die before our lips have met?
The Seeker
Again, the voice! the voice!
The Seeker
Two spirit things a man hath for his friends:
In a Drawing-Room
All these are souls that fly from their dread selves.
Life
I go as soft as folly; I am Fate.
Life
The waves, enormous wanderers of the world,
The Two Titans
Down to the mother of the foiled and dead.
The Two Titans
Low, long and musical. A dew-drop hung
On Mr. Nettleship's Picture at the Royal Hibernian Academy
The flaming circle of the outer Law,
On Mr. Nettleship's Picture at the Royal Hibernian Academy
The honey-hearted leisure of the light,
Remembrance
Sings the young wistful spirit of a star
Remembrance
My love, we will go, we will go, I and you,
Love Song
And death, oh my fair one, will never come near
Love Song
The flies that dance in threes, in twos,
In Church
They seem to join her prayer
In Church
And shake their birds upon the air,
A Summer Evening
For God is walking in the dew,
A Summer Evening
Come and dream of kings and kingdoms,
In the Firelight
Kingdoms rising, kingdoms falling,
In the Firelight
All the words that I gather,
Where My Books Go
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
Where My Books Go
I had a chair at every hearth,
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
And the fret lies on me.
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
And plucked small fruits on Innisfree.
The Danaan Quicken Tree
(Ah, mournful Danaan quicken tree!)
The Danaan Quicken Tree
From the distaff of the moon.
Wisdom and Dreams
Wisdom and dreams are one,
Wisdom and Dreams
Where moves there any beautiful as I,
Time and the Witch Vivien
I laugh the last always.
Time and the Witch Vivien
Chance hath a skill!
Time and the Witch Vivien
Is not thy body but the garnered rust
Kanva on Himself
For as things were so shall things ever be.
Kanva on Himself
All the drowned that ever were drowned from that village by the sea;
The Phantom Ship
By the slow heaving ocean, mumbling mother of the dead.
The Phantom Ship
Ah! it is so very big,
A Lover's Quarrel Among the Fairies
One whose footfall shakes the ground.
A Lover's Quarrel Among the Fairies
Therefore, O nation of the bleeding breast,
How Ferencz Renyi Kept Silent
Libations, from the Hungary of the West.
How Ferencz Renyi Kept Silent
He rushes, rolling from his lips a madman's laugh.
How Ferencz Renyi Kept Silent
Now sadly, now unearthly gay,
The Fairy Doctor
A little withered man, and old.
The Fairy Doctor
Glamoured by fairies for their own.
The Fairy Doctor
Where the souls of fairies go?
The Priest and the Fairy
"They are lost, they are lost, each one," cried he.
The Priest and the Fairy
The beating of a lev'ret's heart;
The Priest and the Fairy
You are wasting away, little fairy.
The Fairy Pedant
And measure the minds of the flowers,
The Fairy Pedant
Noon wrapt the trees in veils of violet weather,
She Who Dwelt Among the Sycamores
"I am lone Lady Quietness, my sweet,
She Who Dwelt Among the Sycamores
And on this loom I weave thy destiny."
She Who Dwelt Among the Sycamores
The Maker of the stars and worlds
A Legend
Are prayers of patient men and good."
A Legend
And now that city is a lake.
A Legend
Larger sparrows of the town,
Street Dancers
Would they foot so fleet a measure?
Street Dancers
Blinder sorrows, harder wage
Street Dancers
All these are souls who fly from their dread selves.
Quatrains and Aphorisms
I go as soft as folly; I am Fate.
Quatrains and Aphorisms
Walks in the vesture of her sister Sorrow.
Quatrains and Aphorisms
And tears of fire fall gently in the dew.
When You Are Sad
And then the whole world's trouble weeps with you.
When You Are Sad
He who measures gain and loss,
A Song of the Rosy Cross
Gave to me alone the Cross;
A Song of the Rosy Cross
It is myself that I remake.
The Friends That Have It I Do Wrong
And lets the kind worm take the lot!
Accursed Who Brings to Light of Day
Who but an idiot would praise
The Well and the Tree
But children and dogs on the floor.
The Well and the Tree