By William Butler Yeats
Once more
the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this
cradle-hood and coverlid
My child
sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But
Gregory’s wood and one bare hill
Whereby
the haystack and roof-levelling wind, 5
Bred on
the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an
hour I have walked and prayed
Because of
the great gloom that is in my mind.
I have
walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard
the sea-wind scream upon the tower, 10
And under
the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the
elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining
in excited reverie
That the
future years had come,
Dancing to
a frenzied drum, 15
Out of the
murderous innocence of the sea.
May she be
granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to
make a stranger’s eye distraught,
Or hers
before a looking glass, for such,
Being made
beautiful overmuch, 20
Consider
beauty a sufficient end,
Lose
natural kindness and maybe
The
heart-revealing intimacy
That
chooses right, and never find a friend.
Helen being chosen found life flat and dull 25
And later
had much trouble from a fool,
While that
great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being
fatherless could have her way
Yet chose
a bandy-legged
smith for a man.
It’s
certain that fine women eat 30
A crazy
salad with their meat,
Whereby
the Horn of Plenty is
undone.
In
courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are
not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those
that are not entirely beautiful; 35
Yet many,
that have played the fool
For
beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a
poor man that has roved,
Loved and
thought himself beloved,
From a
glad kindness cannot take his eyes. 40
May she
become a flourishing hidden tree
That all
her thoughts may like the linnet
be,
And have
no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in
merriment begin a chase, 45
Nor but in
merriment a quarrel.
Oh, may
she live like some green laurel
Rooted in
one dear perpetual place.
My mind,
because the minds that I have loved,
The sort
of beauty that I have approved, 50
Prosper
but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows
that to be choked with hate
May well
be of all evil chances chief.
If there’s
no hatred in a mind
Assault
and battery of the wind 55
Can never
tear the linnet from the leaf.
An
intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her
think opinions are accursed.
Have I not
seen the loveliest woman
born
Out of the
mouth of Plenty’s horn, 60
Because of
her opinionated mind
Barter
that horn and every good
By quiet
natures understood
For an old
bellows full of angry wind?
Considering
that, all hatred driven hence, 65
The soul
recovers radical innocence
And learns
at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing,
self-affrighting,
And that
its own sweet will is Heaven’s will;
She can,
though every face should scowl 70
And every
windy quarter howl
Or every
bellows burst, be happy still.
And may
her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where
all’s accustomed, ceremonious;
For
arrogance and hatred are the wares 75
Peddled in
the thoroughfares.
How but in
custom and in ceremony
Are
innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree. 80
My Daughter—Yeats’ daughter, Anne Butler Yeats, was born on February 26, 1919.
Storm—"Symbolic of the war which has and still is ravaging humanity." -Louis le Brocquy
Tower—Yeats’ home, Thoor Ballylee.
Reverie—Musing; daydream.
Helen—Refers to Helen of Troy, daughter of Zeus and Leda and a famous beauty. She was the cause of the 10-year Trojan War when she was "given" by one of the goddesses as a prize to a Trojan named Paris.
A Fool—referring to Paris.
Queen—Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, who according to legend was born out of the spray of the sea and had neither father nor mother.
Bandy-legged smith—Refers to Hephaestus, crippled son of Zeus and blacksmith of the gods who was married to Aphrodite.
Horn of Plenty—"Ancient mythological representation of a goat overflowing with fruits, flowers, and corn, symbolizing plenty and prosperity." -le Brocquy
Roved—Wandered
Linnet—Small singing bird, related to the Finch.
Magnanimities—Noble acts.
Laurel—a tree. In mythology, the nymph Daphne was turned into a laurel to escape the amorous advances of the god Apollo.
Loveliest woman—Probably referring to Maud Gonne, the woman Yeats loved who married another. She was an activist in the cause of Irish liberation ("opinionated mind).
Self-affrighting—Scaring oneself.