by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
I have drunk ale from the Country of the...
Language: English
I have drunk ale from the Country of the Young And weep because I know all things now: I have been a hazel tree and they hung The Pilot Star and the Crooked Plough Among my leaves in times out of mind: I became a rush that horses tread: I became a man, a hater of the wind, Knowing one, out of all things, alone, that his head Would not lie on the breast or his lips on the hair Of the woman that he loves, until he dies; Although the rushes and the fowl of the air Cry of his love with their pitiful cries.
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View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Mongan thinks of his past Greatness", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "He Thinks Of His Past Greatness When A Part Of The Constellations Of Heaven", op. 40 no. 4 (1993) [ tenor, flute, string quartet, and piano ], from A Poet to His Beloved, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2012-05-23
Line count: 12
Word count: 106