19. Aedh gives his Beloved certain Rhymes. Yeats, W. B. 1899. The Wind Among the Reeds

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wind Among the Reeds. 1899.

19. Aedh gives his Beloved certain Rhymes

FASTEN your hair with a golden pin,
And bind up every wandering tress;
I bade my heart build these poor rhymes:
It worked at them, day out, day in,
Building a sorrowful loveliness	5
Out of the battles of old times.

You need but lift a pearl-pale hand,
And bind up your long hair and sigh;
And all men’s hearts must burn and beat;
And candle-like foam on the dim sand,	10
And stars climbing the dew-dropping sky,
Live but to light your passing feet.