The
Secret Rose
By W. B. Yeats
Contents
To the
Secret Rose
The Crucifixion of the Outcast
Out of the Rose
The Wisdom of the King
The Heart of the Spring
The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows
The Old Men of the Twilight
Where There is Nothing, There is God
Of Costello the Proud, of Oona the Daughter of MacDermot , and of the
Bitter Tongue
As
for living, our servants will do that for us. —Villiers de
L’Isle Adam.
Helen, when she looked in her mirror, seeing the withered
wrinkles made in her face by old age, wept, and wondered why she had
twice been carried away.—A quotation from Ovid in one of Leonardo
da Vinci’s notebooks.
To the Secret Rose
By W. B. Yeats
Far off, most secret, and inviolate Rose,
Enfold me in my hour of hours; where those
Who sought thee at the Holy Sepulchre,
Or in the wine-vat, dwell beyond the stir
And tumult of defeated dreams; and deep
Among pale eyelids heavy with the sleep
Men have named beauty. Your great leaves enfold
The ancient beards, the helms of ruby and gold
Of the crowned Magi; and the king whose eyes
Saw the Pierced Hands and Rood of Elder rise
In Druid vapour and make the torches dim;
Till vain frenzy awoke and he died; and him
Who met Fand walking among flaming dew,
By a grey shore where the wind never blew,
And lost the world and Emir for a kiss;
And him who drove the gods out of their liss
And till a hundred morns had flowered red
Feasted, and wept the barrows of his dead;
And the proud dreaming king who flung the crown
And sorrow away, and calling bard and clown
Dwelt among wine-stained wanderers in deep woods;
And him who sold tillage and house and goods,
And sought through lands and islands numberless years
Until he found with laughter and with tears
A woman of so shining loveliness
That men threshed corn at midnight by a tress,
A little stolen tress. I too await
The hour of thy great wind of love and hate.
When shall the stars be blown about the sky,
Like the sparks blown out of a smithy, and die?
Surely thine hour has come, thy great wind blows,
Far off, most secret, and inviolate Rose?
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