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The Wind Among the Reeds




_The_ WIND AMONG
THE REEDS

_By_

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

LONDON. ELKIN MATHEWS
VIGO STREET. W. MDCCCCIII

FOURTH EDITION.




                                               PAGE

THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE                          1

THE EVERLASTING VOICES                            3

THE MOODS                                         4

AEDH TELLS OF THE ROSE IN HIS HEART               5

THE HOST OF THE AIR                               7

BREASAL THE FISHERMAN                            10

A CRADLE SONG                                    11

INTO THE TWILIGHT                                13

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS                     15

THE SONG OF THE OLD MOTHER                       17

THE FIDDLER OF DOONEY                            18

THE HEART OF THE WOMAN                           20

AEDH LAMENTS THE LOSS OF LOVE                    21

MONGAN LAMENTS THE CHANGE THAT HAS COME
  UPON HIM AND HIS BELOVED                       22

MICHAEL ROBARTES BIDS HIS BELOVED BE AT
  PEACE                                          24

HANRAHAN REPROVES THE CURLEW                     26

MICHAEL ROBARTES REMEMBERS FORGOTTEN
  BEAUTY                                         27

A POET TO HIS BELOVED                            29

AEDH GIVES HIS BELOVED CERTAIN RHYMES            30

TO MY HEART, BIDDING IT HAVE NO FEAR             31

THE CAP AND BELLS                                32

THE VALLEY OF THE BLACK PIG                      35

MICHAEL ROBARTES ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE
  OF HIS MANY MOODS                              37

AEDH TELLS OF A VALLEY FULL OF LOVERS            40

AEDH TELLS OF THE PERFECT BEAUTY                 42

AEDH HEARS THE CRY OF THE SEDGE                  43

AEDH THINKS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SPOKEN EVIL
  OF HIS BELOVED                                 44

THE BLESSED                                      45

THE SECRET ROSE                                  47

HANRAHAN LAMENTS BECAUSE OF HIS WANDERINGS       51

THE TRAVAIL OF PASSION                           52

THE POET PLEADS WITH HIS FRIEND FOR OLD
  FRIENDS                                        54

HANRAHAN SPEAKS TO THE LOVERS OF HIS SONGS
  IN COMING DAYS                                 55

AEDH PLEADS WITH THE ELEMENTAL POWERS            57

AEDH WISHES HIS BELOVED WERE DEAD                59

AEDH WISHES FOR THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN             60

MONGAN THINKS OF HIS PAST GREATNESS              61

NOTES                                            65




THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE


    The host is riding from Knocknarea
    And over the grave of Clooth-na-bare;
    Caolte tossing his burning hair
    And Niamh calling _Away, come away:
    Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
    The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
    Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
    Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are a-gleam,
    Our arms are waving, our lips are apart;
    And if any gaze on our rushing band,
    We come between him and the deed of his hand,
    We come between him and the hope of his heart_.
    The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,
    And where is there hope or deed as fair?
    Caolte tossing his burning hair,
    And Niamh calling _Away, come away_.




THE EVERLASTING VOICES


    O sweet everlasting Voices be still;
    Go to the guards of the heavenly fold
    And bid them wander obeying your will
    Flame under flame, till Time be no more;
    Have you not heard that our hearts are old,
    That you call in birds, in wind on the hill,
    In shaken boughs, in tide on the shore?
    O sweet everlasting Voices be still.




THE MOODS


    Time drops in decay,
    Like a candle burnt out,
    And the mountains and woods
    Have their day, have their day;
    What one in the rout
    Of the fire-born moods,
    Has fallen away?




AEDH TELLS OF THE ROSE IN HIS HEART


    All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
    The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
    The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould,
    Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

    The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
    I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart,
    With the earth and the sky and the water, remade, like a casket of gold
    For my dreams of your