Responsibilities Part 5

I had this thought awhile ago, 'My darling cannot understand What I have done, or what would do In this blind bitter land.'

And I grew weary of the sun Until my thoughts cleared up again, Remembering that the best I have done Was done to make it plain;

That every year I have cried, 'At length My darling understands it all, Because I have come into my strength, And words obey my call.'

That had she done so who can say What would have shaken from the sieve?

I might have thrown poor words away And been content to live.

NO SECOND TROY

Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire?

What could have made her peaceful with a mind That n.o.bleness made simple as a fire, With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind That is not natural in an age like this, Being high and solitary and most stern?

Why, what could she have done being what she is?

Was there another Troy for her to burn?

RECONCILIATION

Some may have blamed you that you took away The verses that could move them on the day When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind With lightning you went from me, and I could find Nothing to make a song about but kings, Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things That were like memories of you--but now We'll out, for the world lives as long ago; And while we're in our laughing, weeping fit, Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit.

But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone, My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.

KING AND NO KING

'Would it were anything but merely voice!'

The No King cried who after that was King, Because he had not heard of anything That balanced with a word is more than noise; Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, Though he'd but cannon--Whereas we that had thought To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale Have been defeated by that pledge you gave In momentary anger long ago; And I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost?

The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, The habitual content of each with each When neither soul nor body has been crossed.

PEACE

Ah, that Time could touch a form That could show what Homer's age Bred to be a hero's wage.

'Were not all her life but storm, Would not painters paint a form Of such n.o.ble lines,' I said, 'Such a delicate high head, All that sternness amid charm, All that sweetness amid strength?'

Ah, but peace that comes at length, Came when Time had touched her form.

AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE

O heart, be at peace, because Nor knave nor dolt can break What's not for their applause, Being for a woman's sake.

Enough if the work has seemed, So did she your strength renew, A dream that a lion had dreamed Till the wilderness cried aloud, A secret between you two, Between the proud and the proud.

What, still you would have their praise!

But here's a haughtier text, The labyrinth of her days That her own strangeness perplexed; And how what her dreaming gave Earned slander, ingrat.i.tude, From self-same dolt and knave; Aye, and worse wrong than these, Yet she, singing upon her road, Half lion, half child, is at peace.

THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT

The fascination of what's difficult Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent Spontaneous joy and natural content Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt That must, as if it had not holy blood, Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays That have to be set up in fifty ways, On the day's war with every knave and dolt, Theatre business, management of men.

I swear before the dawn comes round again I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.

A 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 gla.s.s to my mouth, I look at you, and I sigh.

THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME

Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.

ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS AND THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE

Where, where but here have Pride and Truth, That long to give themselves for wage, To shake their wicked sides at youth Restraining reckless middle-age.

TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE