Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?
For these red lips, with all their mournful pride,
Mournful that no new wonder may betide,
Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam,
And Usna's children died.

We and the labouring world are passing by:
Amid men's souls, that waver and give place,
Like the pale waters in their wintry race,
Under the passing stars, foam of the sky,
Lives on this lonely face.

Bow down, archangels, in your dim abode:
Before you were, or any hearts to beat,
Weary and kind one lingered by His seat;
He made the world to be a grassy road
Before her wandering feet.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in National Observer, January 1892, revised same year

Confirmed with The Poetical Works of William B. Yeats in two volumes, volume 1 : Lyrical Poems, The Macmillan Company, New York and London, 1906, page 170.

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Rosa Mundi", appears in The Rose [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 Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "The Rose of the World", copyright © 1977 [ soprano and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 1, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Verrall (b. 1908), "The rose of the world" [ soprano, flute, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (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: 15
Word count: 109