He wishes his Beloved were Dead | Aedh wishes his Beloved were dead | Were you but lying cold and dead

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Were you but lying cold and dead

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRE

Were you but lying cold and dead,
And lights were paling out of the West,
You would come hither, and bend your head,
And I would lay my head on your breast;
And you would murmur tender words,
Forgiving me, because you were dead:
Nor would you rise and hasten away,
Though you have the will of the wild birds,
But know your hair was bound and wound
About the stars and moon and sun:
O would, beloved, that you lay
Under the dock-leaves in the ground,
While lights were paling one by one.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 44.

First published in Sketch, February 1898, revised 1899
Note: later titled "Aedh wishes his Beloved were dead"

Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Aodh to Dectora", title 2: "He wishes his Beloved were Dead", appears in The Wind among the reeds [author's text checked 2 times 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 Henry Eichheim (1870 - 1942), "Aedh wishes his Beloved were dead", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
by Clyde Van Nuys Fogel , "Aedh wishes his Beloved were dead", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-19
Line count: 13
Word count: 94