I have drunk ale from the Country of the Young
And weep because I know all things now:
I have been a hazel tree and they hung
The Pilot Star and the Crooked Plough
Among my leaves in times out of mind:
I became a rush that horses tread:
I became a man, a hater of the wind,
Knowing one, out of all things, alone, that his head
[Would]1 not lie on the breast or his lips on the hair
Of the woman that he loves, until he dies;
[Although the rushes and the fowl of the air
Cry of his love with their pitiful cries.]2

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¹ Liebermann: "May"
² Liebermann: "O beast of the wilderness, bird of the air,/ Must I endure your amorous cries?"

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Mongan thinks of his past Greatness", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899 [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 Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "He Thinks Of His Past Greatness When A Part Of The Constellations Of Heaven", op. 40 no. 4 (1993) [ tenor, flute, string quartet, and piano ], from A Poet to His Beloved, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-05-23
Line count: 12
Word count: 108