Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HIS WISHES HIS BELOVED WERE DEAD, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS WISHES HIS BELOVED WERE DEAD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Were you but lying cold and dead
Last Line: While lights were paling one by one.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Variant Title(s): Aedh Wishes His Beloved Were Dead
Subject(s): Forgiveness; Death


Were you but lying cold and dead,
And lights were paling out of the West,
You would come hither, and bend your head,
And I would lay my head on your breast;
And you would murmur tender words,
Forgiving me, because you were dead:
Nor would you rise and hasten away,
Though you have the will of the wild birds,
But know your hair was bound and wound
About the stars and moon and sun:
O would, beloved, that you lay
Under the dock-leaves in the ground,
While lights were paling one by one.




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