(13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939 / County Dublin / Ireland)

poet William Butler Yeats
#15 on top 500 poets
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He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

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.

Submitted: Tuesday, May 15, 2001


Read poems about / on: silver, light, dark, night, heaven, dream

Comments about this poem (He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven by William Butler Yeats )

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  • Kay C Cheng (9/21/2009 5:43:00 AM)

    Beautiful, evocative, simple, sincere and vulnerable.

    12 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Jake Hitchcock (3/3/2009 1:09:00 PM)

    How to change your life in 40 seconds! Sit and read this poem...Blithe was right on the poems' succinctness...whew! big word fer me...but perfect! I have been lookin fer this poem for 10 years now! Never used the puter to track it down until this morning! THANKS POEMHUNTER!

    11 person liked.
    		4 person did not like.
  • Blithe Spirit (1/10/2009 11:05:00 AM)

    The succinctness, rhythm and sentiment make this, in my view, one of the most perfect poems ever written

    8 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Vivian Griffiths (8/22/2008 6:02:00 PM)

    only 8 lines yet it seems like an epic, i`m welsh and love poetry and this poem is fabulous.

    7 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Tia Maria (7/1/2008 10:53:00 AM)

    In loving memory of my mother in law who shared this heavenly poem with us & has suddenly tiptoed out of our lives, too young too soon. She always did tread softly, a gracious lady until the end.

    6 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Sara Neame (4/24/2008 7:16:00 AM)

    This is so beautiful. One that I set my self to learn by heart

    4 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Janet Halliday (3/11/2007 9:52:00 AM)

    I first saw the last line of this poem on a tombstone for a stillborn baby. It moved me to tears.

    5 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Bernadette Ruski (1/6/2007 7:35:00 AM)

    It really is a beautiful poem. My all time favourite actually.

    4 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Aidan O'Huaithne (11/14/2006 10:52:00 PM)

    Brilliant, if anything I would of liked a bit more, but what else is there? One of the best.

    4 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Sylvie Launay (10/13/2006 5:59:00 PM)

    This poem is one of the most romantic ones I ever saw.
    Reading this is like a dream...

    6 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
Read all 12 comments »

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