by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
The lot of love is chosen. I learnt that...
Language: English
The lot of love is chosen. I learnt that much Struggling for an image on the track Of the whirling Zodiac. Scarce did he my body touch, Scarce sank he from the west Or found a subtetranean rest On the maternal midnight of my breast Before I had marked him on his northern way, And seemed to stand although in bed I lay. I struggled with the horror of daybreak, I chose it for my lot! If questioned on My utmost pleasure with a man By some new-married bride, I take That stillness for a theme Where his heart my heart did seem And both adrift on the miraculous stream Where -- wrote a learned astrologer -- The Zodiac is changed into a sphere.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The choice", appears in The Winding Stair, in A Woman Young and Old, first published 1929 [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 James Walter Wilson (b. 1922), "The lot of love is chosen", 1966 [soprano and Irish harp or piano or orchestra], from A Woman Young and Old [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-19
Line count: 18
Word count: 122