William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939 / County Dublin / Ireland)
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 224 / 402
The Choice
The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.
William Butler Yeats
Submitted: Thursday, May 17, 2001
Edited: Thursday, May 17, 2001
Read poems about / on: work, dark, night, life
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 224 / 402
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