Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and I sigh.
In at the Eye
by Kevin Puts (b. 1972)
1. Drinking Song  [sung text not yet checked]
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "A drinking song", appears in The Green Helmet and Other Poems, first published 1910
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. He Thinks of Those Who Have Spoken Evil of His Beloved  [sung text not yet checked]
Half close your eyelids, loosen your hair, And dream about the great and their pride; They have spoken against you everywhere, But weigh this song with the great and their pride; I made it out of a mouthful of air, Their children's children shall say they have lied.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Aedh thinks of those who have spoken Evil of his Beloved"
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First published in Dome, May 1898, as one of the "Aodh to Dectora. Three Songs", revised 1899, revised 1906Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. He Bids His Beloved Be at Peace  [sung text not yet checked]
I hear the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake, Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white; The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night, The East her hidden joy before the morning break, The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away, The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire: O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless Desire, The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay: Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest, And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Michael Robartes bids his Beloved be at Peace", title 2: "He bids his Beloved be at Peace", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Michael Robartes invita la sua amata a stare serena", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 19.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Fallen Majesty  [sung text not yet checked]
Although crowds gathered once if she but showed her face, And even old men’s eyes grew dim, this hand alone, Like some last courtier at a gypsy camping place, Babbling of fallen majesty, records what’s gone. The lineaments, a heart that laughter has made sweet, These, these remain, but I record what’s gone. A crowd Will gather, and not know it walks the very street Whereon a thing once walked that seemed a burning cloud.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Fallen Majesty", appears in Responsibilities and Other Poems, first published 1916
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Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems, New York: The Macmillan company, 1916.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven  [sung text not yet checked]
Had I the [heavens']1 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.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven", title 2: "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Original title is "Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven"; revised 1906; re-titled "He wishes for the cloths of heaven".
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 45.
1 Gurney: "Heaven's"Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. A Last Confession  [sung text not yet checked]
What lively lad most pleasured me Of all that with me lay? I answer that I gave my soul And loved in misery, But had great pleasure with a lad That I loved bodily. Flinging from his arms I laughed To think his passion such He fancied that I gave a soul Did but our bodies touch, And laughed upon his breast to think Beast gave beast as much. I gave what other women gave That stepped out of their clothes. But when this soul, its body off, Naked to naked goes, He it has found shall find therein What none other knows, And give his own and take his own And rule in his own right; And though it loved in misery Close and cling so tight, There's not a bird of day that dare Extinguish that delight.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "A last confession", appears in The Winding Stair, in A Woman Young and Old, first published 1929
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]