W. B. Yeats

♦→  «The Cloths of Heaven»  ↓  (by Harvey Keitel)

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

•→‘Sailing to Byzantium’⇐

♦→ «That the Night Come»  ⇓   ([ead by Stephen Fry]

She lived in storm and strife,
Her soul had such desire
For what proud death may bring
That it could not endure
The common good of life,
But lived as ’twere a king
That packed his marriage day
With banneret and pennon,
Trumpet and kettledrum,
And the outrageous cannon,
To bundle time away
That the night come.

♦→   ‘The Song Of Wandering Aengus’  ⇓   [by Philip Leitch Donovan]

I Went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

•→ The Lake Isle of Innisfree ←[read by the poet]

♦  ‘A Drunken Man’s praise of Sobriety’  ⇓  [Elvis Costello]

COME swish around, my pretty punk,
And keep me dancing still
That I may stay a sober man
Although I drink my fill.

Sobriety is a jewel
That I do much adore;
And therefore keep me dancing
While drunkards lie and snore.

O mind your feet, O mind your feet,
Keep dancing like a wave,
And under every dancer
A dead man in his grave.

No ups and downs, my pretty,
A mermaid, not a punk;
A drunkard is a dead man,
And all dead men are drunk.

♦→ ‘Before The World Was Made’  ⇓

Van Morrison adds some verses of his own. For the original poem, listen to ⇒Carla Bruni⇐

If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And your lips more scarlet,
Ask if all be right
And it’s mirror after mirror,
No vanity’s displayed:
You’re just looking for the face you had
Before the world was made…

And if I look upon you now
As though I own my view
With the earth beneath your feet
And the heaven up above

Would you think me cruel
After everything’s been said
You’re only looking for the face you had
Before the world was made …

And if I paint the lashes dark . . .

♣  An Irish Airman Forsees His Death  ↓  [Shane MacGowan]

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

•→«Brown Penny»  ⇐[recited by Christopher Plummer]

♣  «When You Are Old»  ↓  [read by Colin Farrell]