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by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

What lively lad most pleasured me
Language: English 
What lively lad most pleasured me
Of all that with me lay?
I answer that I gave my soul
And loved in misery,
But had great pleasure with a lad
That I loved bodily.

Flinging from his arms I laughed
To think his passion such
He fancied that I gave a soul
Did but our bodies touch,
And laughed upon his breast to think
Beast gave beast as much.

I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes.
But when this soul, its body off,
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows,

And give his own and take his own
And rule in his own right;
And though it loved in misery
Close and cling so tight,
There's not a bird of day that dare
Extinguish that delight.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "A last confession", 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 Kevin Puts (b. 1972), "A Last Confession" [ bass-baritone, flute, violin, cello, piano ], from In at the Eye, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by James Walter Wilson (b. 1922), "What lively lad most pleasured me", 1966 [ soprano and Irish harp ], from A Woman Young and Old [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-19
Line count: 24
Word count: 139

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