Imitated From the Japanese, by W. B. Yeats

W. B. Yeats

Imitated From the Japanese

A MOST astonishing thing—

Seventy years have I lived;

(Hurrah for the flowers of Spring,

For Spring is here again.)

Seventy years have I lived

No ragged beggar-man,

Seventy years have I lived,

Seventy years man and boy,

And never have I danced for joy.

#Irish #NobelPrize #XIXCentury #XXCentury

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Other works by W. B. Yeats...

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,

Her Vision in the Wood

Dry timber under that rich foliage, At wine-dark midnight in the sacred wood… Too old for a man’s love I stood in rag… Imagining men. Imagining that I could A greater with a lesser pang assuage

Those Dancing Days Are Gone

Come, let me sing into your ear; Those dancing days are gone, All that silk and satin gear; Crouch upon a stone, Wrapping that foul body up

Parnell’s Funeral

Under the Great Comedian’s tomb the cro… A bundle of tempestuous cloud is blown About the sky; where that is clear of cl… Brightness remains; a brighter star shoo… What shudders run through all that anima…

The Cold Heaven

Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-deligh… That seemed as though ice burned and was… And thereupon imagination and heart were… So wild that every casual thought of tha… Vanished, and left but memories, that sh…

#1910 #TheGreenHelmetAndOtherPoems

What Was Lost

I sing what was lost and dread what was… I walk in a battle fought over again, My king a lost king, and lost soldiers m… Feet to the Rising and Setting may run, They always beat on the same small stone…

A Statesman’s Holiday

I lived among great houses, Riches drove out rank, Base drove out the better blood, And mind and body shrank. No Oscar ruled the table,

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 w… I have been changed to a hound with one… I have been in the Path of Stones and t… For somebody hid hatred and hope and des… Under my feet that they follow you night…

#1899 #TheWindAmongTheReeds

Adam's Curse

We sat together at one summer’s end, That beautiful mild woman, your close fr… And you and I, and talked of poetry. I said, ‘A line will take us hours mayb… Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thoug…

#ArsPoetica

Parting

He. Dear, I must be gone While night Shuts the eyes Of the household spies; That song announces dawn. She. No, night’s bird and love’s

Those Images

WHAT if I bade you leave The cavern of the mind? There’s better exercise In the sunlight and wind. I never bade you go

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

The Grey Rock

Poets with whom I learned my trade. Companions of the Cheshire Cheese, Here’s an old story I’ve remade, Imagining 'twould better please Your cars than stories now in fashion,

Meeting

Hidden by old age awhile In masker’s cloak and hood, Each hating what the other loved, Face to face we stood: ‘That I have met with such,’ said he,

For Anne Gregory

‘Never shall a young man, Thrown into despair By those great honey-coloured Ramparts at your ear, Love you for yourself alone

#1933 #TheWindingStairAndOtherPoems

W. B. Yeats

Imitated From the Japanese

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