Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LOVER ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE OF HIS MANY MOODS, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LOVER ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE OF HIS MANY MOODS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If this importunate heart trouble your peace
Last Line: The odorous twilight there.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Variant Title(s): Michael Robartes Asks Forgiveness Because Of His Many Moods
Subject(s): Moods; Forgiveness


If this importunate heart trouble your peace
With words lighter than air,
Or hopes that in mere hoping flicker and cease;
Crumple the rose in your hair;
And cover your lips with odorous twilight and say,
'O Hearts of wind-blown flame!
'O Winds, elder than changing of night and day,
'That murmuring and longing came
'From marble cities loud with tabors of old
'In dove-gray faery lands;
'From battle banners, fold upon purple fold,
'Queens wrought with glimmering hands;
'That saw young Niamh hover with love-lorn face
'Above the wandering tide;
'And lingered in the hidden desolate place
'Where the last Phoenix died,
'And wrapped the flames above his holy head;
'And still murmur and long:
'O Piteous Hearts, changing till change be dead
'In a tumultuous song':
And cover the pale blossoms of your breast
With your dim heavy hair,
And trouble with a sign for all things longing for rest
The odorous twilight there.




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