William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939 / County Dublin / Ireland)
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 184 / 402
Presences
THIS night has been so strange that it seemed
As if the hair stood up on my head.
From going-down of the sun I have dreamed
That women laughing, or timid or wild,
In rustle of lace or silken stuff,
Climbed up my creaking stair. They had read
All I had rhymed of that monstrous thing
Returned and yet unrequited love.
They stood in the door and stood between
My great wood lectern and the fire
Till I could hear their hearts beating:
One is a harlot, and one a child
That never looked upon man with desire.
And one, it may be, a queen.
William Butler Yeats
Submitted: Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Edited: Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Read poems about / on: women, child, hair, fire, sun, night, woman, children, dream
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 184 / 402
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