William Butler Yeats

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

The SecondComing (1921)

Turning and turninginthewideninggyre

The falcon cannothearthefalconer;

Thingsfallapart; the centre cannot hold;

Mereanarchy is loosedupontheworld,

The blood-dimmedtide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The bestlackallconviction, whiletheworst

Arefull of passionateintensity.

Surelysomerevelation is athand;

SurelytheSecondComing is athand.

The SecondComing! Hardlyarethosewords out

When a vast image out ofSpiritusMundi

Troublesmysight: somewhereinsands of thedesert

A shapewithlion body and thehead of a man,

A gazeblank and pitilessasthesun,

Is movingitsslowthighs, whileallaboutit

Reelshadows of theindignantdesertbirds.

The darknessdrops again; butnow I know

Thattwentycenturies of stonysleep

Werevexedtonightmareby a rockingcradle,

And whatroughbeast, itshourcomeroundatlast,

SlouchestowardsBethlehemto be born?

Sailing To Byzantium (1926)

I

Thatis no country for old men. The young

Inoneanother’sarms, birdsinthetrees

—Thosedyinggenerations—attheir song,

The salmon-falls, themackerel-crowdedseas,

Fish, flesh, orfowl, commendallsummerlong

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caughtinthatsensualmusicallneglect

Monuments of unageingintellect.

II

An aged man is but a paltrything,

A tattered coatupon a stick, unless

Soulclapitshands and sing, and louder sing

Foreverytatterinitsmortaldress,

Nor is there singing schoolbutstudying

Monuments of itsownmagnificence;

And therefore I havesailedtheseas and come

Totheholy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing inGod’sholyfire

Asinthegoldmosaic of a wall,

Comefromtheholyfire, pernein a gyre,

And be thesinging-masters of mysoul.

Consumemyheartaway; sickwithdesire

And fastenedto a dyinganimal

Itknowsnotwhatit is; and gatherme

Intotheartifice of eternity.

IV

Once out of nature I shallnevertake

Mybodilyformfromanynaturalthing,

Butsuch a formasGreciangoldsmithsmake

Of hammeredgold and goldenamelling

Tokeep a drowsyEmperorawake;

Orsetupon a goldenboughto sing

Tolords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, orpassing, ortocome.