William Butler Yeats

The Travail Of Passion

WHEN the flaming lute-thronged angelic door is wide;
When an immortal passion breathes in mortal clay;
Our hearts endure the scourge, the plaited thorns, the way
Crowded with bitter faces, the wounds in palm and side,
The vinegar-heavy sponge, the flowers by Kedron stream;
We will bend down and loosen our hair over you,
That it may drop faint perfume, and be heavy with dew,
Lilies of death-pale hope, roses of passionate dream.

poem by William Butler YeatsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Related quotes

Amy Lowell

The Little Garden

A little garden on a bleak hillside
Where deep the heavy, dazzling mountain snow
Lies far into the spring. The sun's pale glow
Is scarcely able to melt patches wide
About the single rose bush. All denied
Of nature's tender ministries. But no, --
For wonder-working faith has made it blow
With flowers many hued and starry-eyed.
Here sleeps the sun long, idle summer hours;
Here butterflies and bees fare far to rove
Amid the crumpled leaves of poppy flowers;
Here four o'clocks, to the passionate night above
Fling whiffs of perfume, like pale incense showers.
A little garden, loved with a great love!

poem by Amy LowellReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share
William Butler Yeats

He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace

I HEAR the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,
Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white;
The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night,
The East her hidden joy before the morning break,
The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away,
The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire:
O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless Desire,
The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay:
Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat
Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast,
Drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest,
And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet.

poem by William Butler YeatsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Alone

THE lilies clustered fair and tall;
I stood outside the garden wall;
I saw her light robe glimmering through
The fragrant evening's dusk and dew.

She stopped above the lilies pale;
Up the clear east the moon did sail;
I saw her bend her lovely head
O'er her rich roses blushing red.

Her slender hand the flowers caressed,
Her touch the unconscious blossoms blessed;
The rose against her perfumed palm
Leaned its soft cheek in blissful calm.

I would have given my soul to be
That rose she touched so tenderly!
I stood alone, outside the gate,
And knew that life was desolate.

poem by Celia ThaxterReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

When We Were Shadows

Your shoulders now crowded
with love's golden harp-
no space for my heavy
heart to lie;
Symphony harnessed,
and a pas a deux
mesmerize you. I shall hum my
song of discord in silence,
never to disturb your ballad
to love's new joy.

I'll tend to my garden-
of evolving weeds,
I stand quiet and
listless at your side.
Gazing at a new passion
thriving within you.
Stoically, my friend-
I shall not throw my
tarnished sand
upon your bliss. Alone I will till
the soil of my dying garden
basking in the ethereal-
shimmer of your budding oasis.

Dead roses and live thorns-
adorn my desert. Faintly I hear
harp strings kidnapped
by the breeze. Before I lay burden to
ambrosial scents
of a dawning new love,
I shall toss myself
to my waiting thorns.

poem by Robin BennettReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Wildwood Flower

I will twine with your mingles of raven black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
With myrtle as bright as the emerald dew
The pale and the lyd-er and eyes of light blue
Oh he promised to love me; he promised to love
And to cherish me always all others above.
I woke from my dream and my idol was clay
My passion for loving had vanished away.
Oh he taught me to love him; he called me his flower
A blossom to cheer him through lifes weary hour
But now he is gone and left me alone
The wild flowers to weep and the wild birds to mourn.
I will dance and Ill sing and my life shall be gay
I will charm every heart and each crown I shall sway
Though my heart now is breaking he never shall know
How his name makes me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow.
I will dance and Ill sing and my heart will be gay
Ill banish this weeping, drive troubles away.
Ill live yet to see him regret this dark hour
When we won and neglected this frail wildwood flower.

song performed by by 10000 ManiacsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share
William Butler Yeats

He Remembers Forgotten Beauty

When my arms wrap you round I press
My heart upon the loveliness
That has long faded from the world;
The jewelled crowns that kings have hurled
In shadowy pools, when armies fled;
The love-tales wrought with silken thread
By dreaming ladies upon cloth
That has made fat the murderous moth;
The roses that of old time were
Woven by ladies in their hair,
The dew-cold lilies ladies bore
Through many a sacred corridor
Where such grey clouds of incense rose
That only God's eyes did not close:
For that pale breast and lingering hand
Come from a more dream-heavy land,
A more dream-heavy hour than this;
And when you sigh from kiss to kiss
I hear white Beauty sighing, too,
For hours when all must fade like dew.
But flame on flame, and deep on deep,
Throne over throne where in half sleep,
Their swords upon their iron knees,
Brood her high lonely mysteries.

poem by William Butler YeatsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

[intro]

Yo, my name is Taquell A.K.A Baby Poppa
Told ya I know ali
Yall thought I was playin
I told yall I know the Lunatics
Leezy, Nelly, Spud, Murph AND Kyjuan man
I know all of em since '99
Before Country Grammar before the Free City album
And now, Big Lee got that Heavy Starch out in the streets
It's over fo' real
Now next time Baby Poppa tell you somethin
You better listen
So keep your ears open cuz it's Ali
Heavy Starch let's go
Yo, Ali, Heavy Starch
Heavy Starch
Heavy Starch
Say it again
Heavy Starch
Do it like we do Heavy Starch Big Lee
Big Leezy fo sheezie with Heavy Starcheezy
What's up Ali
Hey Ali Heavy Starch
Peace to Ali comin from Son keepin it real, luv
Yo what's up Ali
Shouts out to Big Lee yea
Ali
Heavy Starch
What's up Ali
Heavy Starch
Big Leezy with the Heavy Starch
What's crack-a-lackin Heavy Starch
Heavy Starch
What's up Ali
Heavy Starch
Hi Ali Heavy Starch
Heavy Starch Big Lee
Big Lee Heavy Starch, Heavy Heavy Heavy Starch hahaha one luv
Right on Ali Right on Heavy Starch
Ali Heavy Starch, whatever you do dirty, keep it St. Louis

song performed by by EelsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Creating Giving

life weighted life heavy
life path impossibilities
too heavy to burden carry

when life feels heavy
passion is regeneration fuel
which keeps us running ready

it is strange
but when life
is flavour lived

with passion
ardent belief
grey heavy

times pass
passion fuels
seeds dreams

creating
giving
makes

life
worth
living

poem by Terence George CraddockReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

The Hospital

Large, heavy, wooden, daunting doors
loom before my eyes as I enter.
An empty side office, reception
with old fashioned filing cabinets,
dark now, glass shutters, closed.
Another heavy door in front of me,
this one leads to a wide, cold floored corridor.
I baulk, want to turn heel, go home.

The black and white tiling, lofty ceiling,
does nothing but repulse me.
More heavy, locked doors
with tiny, peep hole windows, all barred.
Screaming, faint screaming echoes,
ghost like, as it drifts towards me
gradually getting louder.
I reach a wide, stone staircase.

Everything's locked and bolted,
no one passes and the screaming echoes.
Asylums, those old mental hospitals,
where we still send the forgotten
to live out their lives and rot.
You wouldn't ever call this home
and the world outside rolls on
as the traffic drifts by.

poem by Ruth WaltersReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

An Old Picture

THERE are times when a dream delicious
Steals into a musing hour,
Like a face with love capricious
That peeps from a woodland bower;
And one dear scene comes changeless;
A wooded hill and a river;
A deep, cool bend, where the lilies end,
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.

And I lie on the brink there, dreaming
That the life I live is a dream;
That the real is but the seeming,
And the true is the sun-flecked stream.
Beneath me, the perch and the bream sail past
In the dim cool depths of the river;
The struggling fly breaks the mirrored sky
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.

There are voices of children away on the hill;
There are bees thro' the flag-flowers humming;
The lighter-man calls to the lock, and the mill
On the farther side is drumming.
And I sink to sleep in my dream of a dream,
In the grass by the brink of a river,
Where the voices blend and the lilies end
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.

Like a gift from the past is the kindly dream,
For the sorrow and passion and pain
Are adrift like the leaves on the breast of the stream,
And the child-life comes again.
O, the sweet sweet pain of a joy that died—
Of a pain that is joy forever!
O, the life that died in the stormy tide
That was once my sun-flecked river.

poem by John Boyle O'ReillyReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Sweet Addiction

Tulips…Eurasian herbs
With deep shaped cup
Close kin of Lilies
From which hummingbirds sup

Begonias…. tropical herb,
showy flowers, waxy leaves…
Besieged by legions
of honeybees

Roses…often climbing shrubs…
Fragrant blossoms filling noses
Divided leaves, prickly stems
Varietal colored, bed of roses

Lavender…Mediterranean mint
Pale purple colour
Heady perfume, to scent
Bed linen and cover


Flowers, blossoms
Predilections
Scent and sight…
Sweet addictions

Dizzying choices,
A lie down in repose
The best place to compose in…
Is no bed of roses

poem by David WhalenReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Laus Mortis

I bring to thee, for love, white roses, delicate Death!
White lilies of the valley, dropping gently tears,
The white camellia, the seal of perfect years,
The misty white azalea, flickering as a breath.
White flowers I bring, and all the flowers I bring for thee,
Discreet and comforting Death! for those pale hands of thine;
O hands that I have fled, soft hands now laid on mine,
Softer than these white flowers of life, thy hands to me,
Most comfortable Death, mother of many dreams,
And gatherer of many dreams of men,
Dreams that come desolately flying back again,
With soiled and quivering wings, from undiscovered streams.
I have been fearful of thee, mother, all life long,
For I have loved a warm, alluring, treacherous bride,
Life, and she loved thee not; to hold me from thy side,
She closed her arms about my heart, to do thee wrong.
O gay and bitter bride of such divine desires,
Too fiercely passionate Life, that wast so prodigal
Of thine eternal moments, at the end of all
Take my forgiveness: I have passed through all thy fires.
Nothing can hurt me now, and having gained and lost
All things, and having loved, and having done with life,
I come back to thy arms, mother, and now all strife
Ceases; and every homeward-flying dream, wind-tossed,
My soul that looks upon thy face and understands,
My throbbing heart that at thy touch is quieted,
And all that once desired, and all desire now dead,
Are gathered to the peace and twilight of thy hands.

poem by Arthur SymonsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Heavy Rain

Heavy rain, lightning too
Heavy rain, when Im with you
Seems like a thousand years
Since we both felt free
Weve seen a million faces
All staring at you and me
But just like humphrey bogart said
Before he passed out on his bed
Heres looking at you kid
And the rocky road ahead
Heavy rain, lightning too
Heavy rain when Im with you
You know the thunder comes like a lions roar
But it leaves me now
When you walk out the door
Listen to that northern wind
Its singing a sad old song
A melody so sick and tired
Been blowing much too long
Aint it time to feel the weather change
You know its overdue
Love is gone, we cant go on
Pretending old is new

Rain down

And the daylight comes
As a sweet surprise
Heavy rain
Filling up my eyes
Heavy rain

song performed by by Hall & OatesReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

The Pale Woman

I spoke to the pale and heavy-lidded woman, and said:
O pale and heavy-lidded woman, why is your cheek
Pale as the dead, and what are your eyes afraid lest they speak?
And the woman answered me: I am pale as the dead,
For the dead have loved me, and I dream of the dead.

But I see in the eyes of the living, as a living fire,
The thing that my soul in triumph tells me I have forgot;
And therefore mine eyelids are heavy, and I raise them not,
For always I see in the eyes of men the old desire,
And I fear lest they see that I desire their desire.

poem by Arthur SymonsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Taste of honey

A heavenly hint
And scent…
Of blue and white clover

Mixed within the morning dew
Wrapped within
and over

With just a tweak…
Not strong nor meek
Of musky Morning Glorys

Threaded though…
with morning dew
A tasty tale of stories.

Lilies lend a heavy hand
With just…
a nose of roses

buried deep…fuzzy faces
In flowers sweet private places
Strike most ridiculous poses

That buzzy bees…
with powdered knees
tiny creatures though they be

Can take dust of pollen
From fragrant flowers
And do such amazing alchemy

Heavy wine, of bush and vine
Perfect mix…
not thick… nor runny

Beautiful blend
of sultry summer nights
And days… cloudy… and sunny

Natures nostrum…God’s delight
It seems at times…
almost funny

To brew liquid gold in waxy vats
So that young and old
Can savor… sweet taste of honey

poem by David WhalenReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

On an Air of Rameau

A melancholy desire of ancient things
Floats like a faded perfume out of the wires;
Pallid lovers, what unforgotten desires,
Whispered once, are retold in your whisperings?

Roses, roses, and lilies with hearts of gold,
These you plucked for her, these she wore in her breast;
Only Rameau's music remembers the rest,
The death of roses over a heart grown cold.

But these sighs? Can ghosts then sigh from the tomb?
Life then wept for you, sighed for you, chilled your breath?
It is the melancholy of ancient death
The harpsichord dreams of, sighing in the room.

poem by Arthur SymonsReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Red one

Out of a hundred roses
I plucked you
Red one.

Your sharp thorns
Are real
Red one.

These wounds
On my palm bleed
Red one.

Gibberish!
You are just a rose
Not love.

Red one.

poem by Jeffrey RegullanoReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Ante Aram

Before thy shrine I kneel, an unknown worshipper,
Chanting strange hymns to thee and sorrowful litanies,
Incense of dirges, prayers that are as holy myrrh.

Ah, goddess, on thy throne of tears and faint low sighs,
Weary at last to theeward come the feet that err,
And empty hearts grown tired of the world's vanities.

How fair this cool deep silence to a wanderer
Deaf with the roar of winds along the open skies!
Sweet, after sting and bitter kiss of sea-water,

The pale Lethean wine within thy chalices!
I come before thee, I, too tired wanderer,
To heed the horror of the shrine, the distant cries,

And evil whispers in the gloom, or the swift whirr
Of terrible wings - I, least of all thy votaries,
With a faint hope to see the scented darkness stir,

And, parting, frame within its quiet mysteries
One face, with lips than autumn-lilies tenderer,
And voice more sweet than the far plaint of viols is,

Or the soft moan of any grey-eyed lute-player.

poem by Rupert BrookeReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!

Share

A Rose Amidst the thorns

Roses in profusion
bloomed along our garden wall.
They were both red and yellow-
tea hybrids, I recall.
There were thorns too,
as I well knew,
standing guard among the blooms.

A careless creature soon would learn
to give the rose wide berth
An agony of thorns awaits
the careless of the earth.
Yet thorns permit the bees to come
and pollen to transpose.
and, if careful, they'll admit
my own scent seeking nose


I think thorns serve their purpose well
else roses would be trampled
The thorns are roses' guardians
and not inconsequential.
Without a thorn, the rose, forlorn,
is destined for the ashes.

poem by John F. McCullaghReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Life Is Bitter

Life is bitter. All the faces of the years,
Young and old, are gray with travail and with tears.
Must we only wake to toil, to tire, to weep?
In the sun, among the leaves, upon the flowers,
Slumber stills to dreamy death the heavy hours …
Let me sleep.

Riches won but mock the old, unable years;
Fame’s a pearl that hides beneath a sea of tears;
Love must wither, or must live alone and weep.
In the sunshine, through the leaves, across the flowers,
While we slumber, death approaches through the hours …
Let me sleep.

poem by William Ernest HenleyReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share