Earth, receive an honoured guest, William Yeats is laid to rest. Let the Irish vessel lie Emptied of its poetry. In the nightmare of the dark, All the dogs of Europe bark, And the living nations wait, Each sequestered in its hate; Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye. Follow, poet, follow right To the bottom of the night, With your unconstraining voice Still persuade us to rejoice; With the farming of a verse Make a vineyard of the curse, Sing of human unsuccess In a rapture of distress; In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start, In the prison of his days Teach the free man how to praise. Earth, receive an honoured guest: William Yeats is laid to rest.
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Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994), "In Memory of W.B. Yeats I", 1985, published 1985 [ voice and piano ], from 3 Songs for Tracey Chadwell, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-04-24
Line count: 26
Word count: 136