A Faery Song (by William Butler Yeats)
1911 photo of Yeats by George Charles Beresford
A Faery Song
by William Butler Yeats
from The Rose (1893)
Sung by the people of Faery over Diarmuid and Grania, in their bridal sleep under a Cromlech.
We who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Silence and love;
And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,
And the stars above:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then:
Us who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told.
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Posted by Jesus Crisis at 3/2/2010 5:20 AM 
Categories: British,Poetry,Irish,Yeats (William Butler),1800s
Tags: 1893 British Literature W.B. Yeats Irish Literature Irish Poetry British Poetry William Butler Yeats The Rose
Categories: British,Poetry,Irish,Yeats (William Butler),1800s
Tags: 1893 British Literature W.B. Yeats Irish Literature Irish Poetry British Poetry William Butler Yeats The Rose
"Is there anything better"
I must ask myself this, on a daily basis, & not only to do with faeries...a thousand years old. timelessness here.
thanks john
carolyn
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Ah, yes!...
Thank you, Carolyn!
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intriguing....
So is Yeats a favorite of yours? He reminds me of Whitman...
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He is. Perhaps some of it's the Irishman in me.
This is probably the most Whitmanesque of his The Rose poems.
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