Twee gedichten van William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) — Nobelprijs Literatuur 1923

THE ROSE TREE

'O WORDS are lightly spoken,'
Said Pearse to Conolly,
'Maybe a breath of politic words
Has withered our Rose Tree;
Or maybe but a wind that blows
Across the bitter sea.'

'It needs to be but watered,'
James Conolly replied,
'To make the green come out again
And spread on every side,
And shake the blossom from the bad
To be the garden's pride.'

'But where can we draw water,'
Said Pearse to Conolly,
'When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There's nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.'

Uit: Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)




















THE FOOL BY THE ROADSIDE

WHEN all works that have
From cradle run to grave
From grave to cradle run instead;
When thoughts that a fool
Has wound upon a spool
Are but loose thread, are but loose thread;

When cradle and spool are past
And I mere shade at last
Coagulate of stuff
Transparent like the wind,
I think that I may find
A faithful love, a faithful love.

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS (1865-1939)
[Nobelprijs Literatuur 1923]
Uit: The Tower (1928)