William Butler Yeats


Fergus Bourke: Hawthorn Tree, Connemara


Crazy Jane talks with the Bishop

I met the Bishop on the road 

And much said he and I. 
'Those breasts are flat and fallen now, 
Those veins must soon be dry; 
Live in a heavenly mansion, 
Not in some foul sty.' 

'Fair and foul are near of kin, 
And fair needs foul,' I cried. 
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth 
Nor grave nor bed denied, 
Learned in bodily lowliness 
And in the heart's pride. 

'A woman can be proud and stiff 
When on love intent; 
But Love has pitched his mansion in 
The place of excrement; 
For nothing can be sole or whole 
That has not been rent.'

John Ashbery

  The New Spirit (excerpt) I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave a...