Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DEIRDRE, by JAMES STEPHENS Poet's Biography First Line: Do not let any woman read this verse! Last Line: The friend of that poor queen! Subject(s): Mythology - Irish | ||||||||
Do not let any woman read this verse! It is for men, and after them their sons, And their son's sons! The time comes when our hearts sink utterly; When we remember Deirdre, and her tale, And that her lips are dust. Once she did tread the earth: men took her hand; They looked into her eyes and said their say, And she replied to them. More than two thousand years it is since she Was beautiful: she trod the waving grass; She saw the clouds. Two thousand years! The grass is still the same; The clouds as lovely as they were that time When Deirdre was alive. But there has been again no woman born Who was so beautiful; not one so beautiful Of all the women born. Let all men go apart and mourn together! No man can ever love her! Not a man Can dream to be her lover! No man can bend before her! No man say -- What could one say to her? There are no words That one could say to her! Now she is but a story that is told Beside the fire! No man can ever be The friend of that poor queen! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LANAWN SHEE by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE THE PASSING OF CAOILTE by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE DEIRDRE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS DUNLANG O'HARTIGAN: LAMENT OF AOIBHELL, THE FAIRY QUEEN by PATRICK JOSEPH MCCALL THE TRYST AFTER DEATH by ANONYMOUS OLD MYTHOLOGIES by JOHN MONTAGUE |
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