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W. B. Yeats

W. B. Yeats

The Balloon of the Mind

HANDS, do what you’re bid;    
Bring the balloon of the mind    
That bellies and drags in the wind    
Into its narrow shed.

The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

#Irish #NobelPrize #XIXCentury #XXCentury

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A Song

I THOUGHT no more was needed Youth to prolong Than dumb-bell and foil To keep the body young. Oh, who could have foretold

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To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing

NOW all the truth is out, Be secret and take defeat From any brazen throat, For how can you compete, Being honour bred, with one

Girl’s Song

I went out alone To sing a song or two, My fancy on a man, And you know who. Another came in sight

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A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness

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As I came over Windy Gap They threw a halfpenny into my cap. For I am running to paradise; And all that I need do is to wish And somebody puts his hand in the dish

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BALD heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines That young men, tossing on their beds, Rhymed out in love’s despair

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POUR wine and dance if manhood still h… Bring roses if the rose be yet in bloom; The cataract smokes upon the mountain si… Our Father Rosicross is in his tomb. Pull down the blinds, bring fiddle and c…

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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

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