I bring you with reverent hands
The books of my numberless dreams;
White woman that passion has worn
As the tide wears the dove-gray sands,
And with heart more old than the horn
That is brimmed from the pale fire of time:
White woman with numberless dreams
I bring you my passionate rhyme.

First published in Senate, May 1896 as part of "O'Sullivan the Red to Mary Lavell", revised 1899

Composition:

Set to music by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "A poet to his beloved", op. 40 no. 1 (1993) [ tenor, flute, string quartet, and piano ], from A Poet to His Beloved, no. 1

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "A Poet to His Beloved", appears in The Wind among the reeds

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Un poète à sa bien-aimée", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-20
Line count: 8
Word count: 53