Ode to Yeats

William Butler Yeats. He is one of my favorite poets. He takes me somewhere else, and nowhere at all, and everywhere at once.


"Come fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind, and dance upon the mountains like a flame."

"The worst thing about some men, is that when they are not drunk they are sober."

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

"A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love."

"Life is a long preparation for something that never happens."

"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."

"How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old is my heart."

"I carry the Sun in a golden cup, the Moon in a silver bag."

"Think like a wise man, but communicate in the language of the people."

"A deep-sworn vow others because you did not keep that deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine. Yet always when I look death in the face, when I clamber to the heights of sleep, or when I grow excited with wine, suddenly I meet your face."

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

"The Mermaid
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; And plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown."

"The world is full of magic things, waiting for our senses to grow sharper."

"Oh, love is the crooked thing. There is nobody wise enough to find out all that is in it, for he will be thinking about love til the stars run away and the shadows eaten the moon."

"To love beauty is to see light.":

"Any fool can fight a winning battle, but it needs character to fight a losing one, and that should inspire us; Which reminds me that I dreamed the other night that I was being hanged, but was the life and soul of the party."

"How can we know the dancer from the dance."

"Take, if you must this little bag of dreams, unloose the cord and they will wrap you round."

"The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy, but time."

"Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses."