Where had her sweetness gone? What fanatics invent In this blind bitter town, Fantasy or incident Not worth thinking of,

(Song from an Unfinished Play) My mother dandled me and sang, ‘How young it is, how young!’ And made a golden cradle That on a willow swung.

‘She will change,’ I cried. ‘Into a withered crone.’ The heart in my side, That so still had lain, In noble rage replied

O but there is wisdom In what the sages said; But stretch that body for a while And lay down that head Till I have told the sages

‘WHAT have I earned for all that work,… ‘For all that I have done at my own cha… The daily spite of this unmannerly town, Where who has served the most is most de… The reputation of his lifetime lost

SWEETHEART, do not love too long: I loved long and long, And grew to be out of fashion Like an old song. All through the years of our youth

I sought a theme and sought for it in va… I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last, being but a broken man, I must be satisfied with my heart, altho… Winter and summer till old age began

FATHER AND CHILD SHE hears me strike the board and say That she is under ban Of all good men and women, Being mentioned with a man

While I, that reed-throated whisperer Who comes at need, although not now as o… A clear articulation in the air, But inwardly, surmise companions Beyond the fling of the dull ass’s hoof

Through intricate motions ran Stream and gliding sun And all my heart seemed gay: Some stupid thing that I had done Made my attention stray.

Undying love to buy I wrote upon The corners of this eye All wrongs done. What payment were enough

Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our c… When we are high and airy hundreds say That if we hold that flight they’ll leav… While those same hundreds mock another d… Because we have made our art of common t…

Though the great song return no more There’s keen delight in what we have: The rattle of pebbles on the shore Under the receding wave.

Once, when midnight smote the air, Eunuchs ran through Hell and met On every crowded street to stare Upon great Juan riding by: Even like these to rail and sweat