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by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

The circus animals' desertion
 (Sung text for setting by L. Dykstra)
 See original
Language: English 
I
I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,
I sought it daily for six weeks or so.
Maybe at last being but a broken man
I must be satisfied with my heart, although
Winter and summer till old age began
My circus animals were all on show,
Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot,
Lion and woman and the Lord knows what.

 ... 

III
Those masterful images because complete
Grew in pure mind but out of what began?
A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.

Composition:

    Set to music by Lowell Dykstra (b. 1952), "The circus animals' desertion", 1998, published 2001, first performed 2000, stanzas 1,5 [ baritone and piano ], from Youth and Age, no. 10, Amsterdam, Donemus; a setting of parts I and III

Text Authorship:

  • by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The circus animals' desertion"

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2020-01-03
Line count: 43
Word count: 324

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