Friday, July 31, 2009

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
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our winged horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road.
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

8 comments:

Mr E said...

ah,
William Butler YeatzzzzzZZZZZZZ.

Maybe it's just that in my declining years, my attention span is not all that it once was, or maybe it's just that it's Friday and I've had a prick of a week. But for God's sake,man. Brevity! Get to the point!

If I may make a suggestion, maybe we could have a "Last day of the week Limerick"

Short, snappy, less mentally taxing.

Such is my love for the Iambic Pentameter,if i could live my life over again, I would wish to born at a time when I could go to Primary School with both Anton Enus and Rex Hunt.

squib said...

I think it's sublime, really really beautiful, almost had me reaching for the tissues

I just remembered Anton should have been on my list of hottest guys

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

It's one of my favourites, Squib.

Anton kicks for the other team.

Pepsi said...

That poem is truly lovely Ramon.

It’s a funny coincidence - I’m wearing the earrings today that I purchased at the little gift shop in the cemetery at Drumcliffe after taking a visit to his grave.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Are they in the shape of little W.B Yeatses Pepsi?

And if not, why not?

Is Yeatses even a word?

Pepsi said...

Yep, they'd be little Yeatses.


He was assuming the form of a little silver cross at the time.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Very useful for repelling poetry-hating vampires.

Unknown said...

Anton kicks for the other team.

Bugger.