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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:51 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:51 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30488-0.txt b/30488-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..508e9b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1532 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 *** + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + BY + + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + + NEW YORK + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1912 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + Copyright, 1911, by + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + Copyright, 1912, by + THE MACMILLAN CO. + + _Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912_ + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + +HIS DREAM + + + I swayed upon the gaudy stern + The butt end of a steering oar, + And everywhere that I could turn + Men ran upon the shore. + + And though I would have hushed the crowd + There was no mother's son but said, + "What is the figure in a shroud + Upon a gaudy bed?" + + And fishes bubbling to the brim + Cried out upon that thing beneath, + It had such dignity of limb, + By the sweet name of Death. + + Though I'd my finger on my lip, + What could I but take up the song? + And fish and crowd and gaudy ship + Cried out the whole night long, + + Crying amid the glittering sea, + Naming it with ecstatic breath, + Because it had such dignity + By the sweet name of Death. + + + + +A WOMAN HOMER SUNG + + + If any man drew near + When I was young, + I thought, "He holds her dear," + And shook with hate and fear. + But oh, 'twas bitter wrong + If he could pass her by + With an indifferent eye. + + Whereon I wrote and wrought, + And now, being gray, + I dream that I have brought + To such a pitch my thought + That coming time can say, + "He shadowed in a glass + What thing her body was." + + For she had fiery blood + When I was young, + And trod so sweetly proud + As 'twere upon a cloud, + A woman Homer sung, + That life and letters seem + But an heroic dream. + + + + +THAT THE NIGHT COME + + + She lived in storm and strife. + Her soul had such desire + For what proud death may bring + That it could not endure + The common good of life, + But lived as 'twere a king + That packed his marriage day + With banneret and pennon, + Trumpet and kettledrum, + And the outrageous cannon, + To bundle Time away + That the night come. + + + + +THE CONSOLATION + + + I had this thought awhile ago, + "My darling cannot understand + What I have done, or what would do + In this blind bitter land." + + And I grew weary of the sun + Until my thoughts cleared up again, + Remembering that the best I have done + Was done to make it plain; + + That every year I have cried, "At length + My darling understands it all, + Because I have come into my strength, + And words obey my call." + + That had she done so who can say + What would have shaken from the sieve? + I might have thrown poor words away + And been content to live. + + + + +FRIENDS + + + Now must I these three praise-- + Three women that have wrought + What joy is in my days; + One that no passing thought, + Nor those unpassing cares, + No, not in these fifteen + Many times troubled years, + Could ever come between + Heart and delighted heart; + And one because her hand + Had strength that could unbind + What none can understand, + What none can have and thrive, + Youth's dreamy load, till she + So changed me that I live + Labouring in ecstasy. + And what of her that took + All till my youth was gone + With scarce a pitying look? + How should I praise that one? + When day begins to break + I count my good and bad, + Being wakeful for her sake, + Remembering what she had, + What eagle look still shows, + While up from my heart's root + So great a sweetness flows + I shake from head to foot. + + + + +NO SECOND TROY + + + Why should I blame her that she filled my days + With misery, or that she would of late + Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, + Or hurled the little streets upon the great, + Had they but courage equal to desire? + What could have made her peaceful with a mind + That nobleness made simple as a fire, + With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind + That is not natural in an age like this, + Being high and solitary and most stern? + Why, what could she have done being what she is? + Was there another Troy for her to burn? + + + + +RECONCILIATION + + + Some may have blamed you that you took away + The verses that could move them on the day + When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind + With lightning you went from me, and I could find + Nothing to make a song about but kings, + Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things + That were like memories of you--but now + We'll out, for the world lives as long ago; + And while we're in our laughing, weeping fit, + Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit. + But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone, + My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone. + + + + +KING AND NO KING + + + "Would it were anything but merely voice!" + The No King cried who after that was King, + Because he had not heard of anything + That balanced with a word is more than noise; + Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail + Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, + Though he'd but cannon--Whereas we that had thought + To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale + Have been defeated by that pledge you gave + In momentary anger long ago; + And I that have not your faith, how shall I know + That in the blinding light beyond the grave + We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost? + The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, + The habitual content of each with each + When neither soul nor body has been crossed. + + + + +THE COLD HEAVEN + + + Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven + That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, + And thereupon imagination and heart were driven + So wild, that every casual thought of that and this + Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season + With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago; + And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason, + Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro, + Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken, + Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent + Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken + By the injustice of the skies for punishment? + + + + +PEACE + + + Ah, that Time could touch a form + That could show what Homer's age + Bred to be a hero's wage. + "Were not all her life but storm, + Would not painters paint a form + Of such noble lines" I said. + "Such a delicate high head, + So much sternness and such charm, + Till they had changed us to like strength?" + Ah, but peace that comes at length, + Came when Time had touched her form. + + + + +AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE + + + O heart, be at peace, because + Nor knave nor dolt can break + What's not for their applause, + Being for a woman's sake. + Enough if the work has seemed, + So did she your strength renew, + A dream that a lion had dreamed + Till the wilderness cried aloud, + A secret between you two, + Between the proud and the proud. + + What, still you would have their praise! + But here's a haughtier text, + The labyrinth of her days + That her own strangeness perplexed; + And how what her dreaming gave + Earned slander, ingratitude, + From self-same dolt and knave; + Aye, and worse wrong than these. + Yet she, singing upon her road, + Half lion, half child, is at peace. + + + + +THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT + + + The fascination of what's difficult + Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent + Spontaneous joy and natural content + Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt + That must, as if it had not holy blood, + Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, + Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt + As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays + That have to be set up in fifty ways, + On the day's war with every knave and dolt, + Theatre business, management of men. + I swear before the dawn comes round again + I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt. + + + + +A DRINKING SONG + + + Wine comes in at the mouth + And love comes in at the eye; + That's all we shall know for truth + Before we grow old and die. + I lift the glass to my mouth, + I look at you, and I sigh. + + + + +THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME + + + Though leaves are many, the root is one; + Through all the lying days of my youth + I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; + Now I may wither into the truth. + + + + +ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE +ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS AND THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE + + + Where, where but here have Pride and Truth, + That long to give themselves for wage, + To shake their wicked sides at youth + Restraining reckless middle-age. + + + + +TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS +AND MINE + + + You say, as I have often given tongue + In praise of what another's said or sung, + 'Twere politic to do the like by these; + But where's the wild dog that has praised his fleas? + + + + +THE ATTACK ON THE "PLAY BOY" + + + Once, when midnight smote the air, + Eunuchs ran through Hell and met + Round about Hell's gate, to stare + At great Juan riding by, + And like these to rail and sweat, + Maddened by that sinewy thigh. + + + + +A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED PLAY + + + "Put off that mask of burning gold + With emerald eyes." + "O no, my dear, you make so bold + To find if hearts be wild and wise, + And yet not cold." + + "I would but find what's there to find, + Love or deceit." + "It was the mask engaged your mind, + And after set your heart to beat, + Not what's behind." + + "But lest you are my enemy, + I must enquire." + "O no, my dear, let all that be, + What matter, so there is but fire + In you, in me?" + + + + +UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY THE LAND AGITATION + + + How should the world be luckier if this house, + Where passion and precision have been one + Time out of mind, became too ruinous + To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun? + And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow + Where wings have memory of wings, and all + That comes of the best knit to the best? Although + Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall, + How should their luck run high enough to reach + The gifts that govern men, and after these + To gradual Time's last gift, a written speech + Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease? + + + + +AT THE ABBEY THEATRE + +_Imitated from Ronsard_ + + + Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case. + When we are high and airy hundreds say + That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place, + While those same hundreds mock another day + Because we have made our art of common things, + So bitterly, you'd dream they longed to look + All their lives through into some drift of wings. + You've dandled them and fed them from the book + And know them to the bone; impart to us-- + We'll keep the secret--a new trick to please. + Is there a bridle for this Proteus + That turns and changes like his draughty seas? + Or is there none, most popular of men, + But when they mock us that we mock again? + + + + +THESE ARE THE CLOUDS + + + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye; + The weak lay hand on what the strong has done, + Till that be tumbled that was lifted high + And discord follow upon unison, + And all things at one common level lie. + And therefore, friend, if your great race were run + And these things came, so much the more thereby + Have you made greatness your companion, + Although it be for children that you sigh: + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye. + + + + +AT GALWAY RACES + + + Out yonder, where the race course is, + Delight makes all of the one mind, + Riders upon the swift horses, + The field that closes in behind: + We, too, had good attendance once, + Hearers and hearteners of the work; + Aye, horsemen for companions, + Before the merchant and the clerk + Breathed on the world with timid breath. + Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon, + We'll learn that sleeping is not death, + Hearing the whole earth change its tune, + Its flesh being wild, and it again + Crying aloud as the race course is, + And we find hearteners among men + That ride upon horses. + + + + +A FRIEND'S ILLNESS + + + Sickness brought me this + Thought, in that scale of his: + Why should I be dismayed + Though flame had burned the whole + World, as it were a coal, + Now I have seen it weighed + Against a soul? + + + + +ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME + + + All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: + One time it was a woman's face, or worse-- + The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; + Now nothing but comes readier to the hand + Than this accustomed toil. When I was young, + I had not given a penny for a song + Did not the poet sing it with such airs + That one believed he had a sword upstairs; + Yet would be now, could I but have my wish, + Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish. + + + + +THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG + + + I whispered, "I am too young," + And then, "I am old enough," + Wherefore I threw a penny + To find out if I might love; + "Go and love, go and love, young man, + If the lady be young and fair," + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + I am looped in the loops of her hair. + + Oh love is the crooked thing, + There is nobody wise enough + To find out all that is in it, + For he would be thinking of love + Till the stars had run away, + And the shadows eaten the moon; + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + One cannot begin it too soon. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY + + LAEGAIRE LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + CONALL CONALL'S WIFE + CUCHULAIN LAEG, _Cuchulain's chariot-driver_ + EMER RED MAN, _A Spirit_ + + Horse Boys and Scullions, Black Men, etc. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + SCENE: _A house made of logs. There are two windows at the back and + a door which cuts off one of the corners of the room. Through the + door one can see low rocks which make the ground outside higher than + it is within, and beyond the rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the + windows one can see nothing but the sea. There is a great chair at + the opposite side to the door, and in front of it a table with cups + and a flagon of ale. Here and there are stools._ + + _At the Abbey Theatre the house is orange red and the chairs and + tables and flagons black, with a slight purple tinge which is not + clearly distinguishable from the black. The rocks are black with a + few green touches. The sea is green and luminous, and all the + characters except the RED MAN and the Black Men are dressed in + various shades of green, one or two with touches of purple which + look nearly black. The Black Men all wear dark purple and have eared + caps, and at the end their eyes should look green from the reflected + light of the sea. The RED MAN is altogether in red. He is very tall, + and his height increased by horns on the Green Helmet. The effect is + intentionally violent and startling._ + + +LAEGAIRE + + What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an + eye, + A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by; + But that could not be. + +CONALL + + You have dreamed it--there's nothing out there. + I killed them all before daybreak--I hoked them out of their lair; + I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword, + And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard. + +LAEGAIRE + + Does anything stir on the sea? + +CONALL + + Not even a fish or a gull: + I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon's at the full. + + [_A distant shout._] + +LAEGAIRE + + Ah--there--there is someone who calls us. + +CONALL + + But from the landward side, + And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide; + The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise, + But the land will do us no harm. + +LAEGAIRE + + It was like Cuchulain's voice. + +CONALL + + But that's an impossible thing. + +LAEGAIRE + + An impossible thing indeed. + +CONALL + + For he will never come home, he has all that he could need + In that high windy Scotland--good luck in all that he does. + Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows, + And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away, + And take his good name from him between a day and a day. + +LAEGAIRE + + I would he'd come for all that, and make his young wife know + That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go + Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night + Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right; + And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can. + She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man. + +CONALL + + A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin + Comes down through the rocks and hazels. + +LAEGAIRE + + Cry out that he cannot come in. + +CONALL + + He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop + Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up. + +LAEGAIRE + + No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two. + +CONALL + + [_Outside door_] + + Go away, go away, go away. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Outside door_] + + I will go when the night is through + And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart's delight. + +CONALL + + A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night. + +YOUNG MAN + + Who made that law? + +CONALL + + We made it, and who has so good a right? + Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day? + +YOUNG MAN + + Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way. + + [_He pushes past CONALL and goes into house_] + +CONALL + + I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door, + Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor; + And had I been rightly ready there's no man living could do it, + Dip or no dip. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out--if you have your wits, go out, + A stone's throw further on you will find a big house where + Our wives will give you supper, and you'll sleep sounder there, + For it's a luckier house. + +YOUNG MAN + + I'll eat and sleep where I will. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out or I will make you. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Forcing up LAEGAIRE'S arm, passing him and putting his shield on + the wall over the chair_] + + Not till I have drunk my fill. + But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder's up. + Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top, + And the cups-- + +LAEGAIRE + + It is Cuchulain. + +CUCHULAIN + + The cups are dry as a bone. + + [_He sits on chair and drinks_] + +CONALL + + Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone + From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat. + +CUCHULAIN + + If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that + Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face? + +CONALL + + We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace. + +CUCHULAIN + + I am losing patience, Conall--I find you stuffed with pride, + The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide; + You'd put me off with words, but the whole thing's plain enough, + You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love + In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves, + Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves + Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro; + But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no, + I am going too. + +LAEGAIRE + + Better tell it all out to the end; + He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend + The bad luck we were born to. + +CONALL + + I'll lay the whole thing bare. + You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there. + Does anything stir on the sea? + +LAEGAIRE + + Not even a fish or a gull. + +CONALL + + You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full. + We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke + When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak, + With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth, + And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth + He could drink the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I thought he had come from one of you + Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew; + But if he so loved water I have the tale awry. + +CONALL + + You would not be so merry if he were standing by, + For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin + He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been; + And when we had asked what game, he answered, "Why, whip off my head! + Then one of you two stoop down, and I'll whip off his," he said. + "A head for a head," he said, "that is the game that I play." + +CUCHULAIN + + How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away? + +CONALL + + We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit, + But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split, + Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow, + Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so, + And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me. + +LAEGAIRE + + Till he took it up in his hands-- + +CONALL + + And splashed himself into the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I have imagined as good when I've been as deep in the cup. + +LAEGAIRE + + You never did. + +CUCHULAIN + + And believed it. + +CONALL + + Cuchulain, when will you stop + Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two, + And crying out to the world whatever we say or do, + That you've said or done a better?--Nor is it a drunkard's tale, + Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale, + And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock, + Swore we should keep it secret. + +LAEGAIRE + + But twelve months upon the clock. + +CONALL + + A twelvemonth from the first time. + +LAEGAIRE + + And the jug full up to the brim: + For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him. + +CONALL + + We stood as we're standing now. + +LAEGAIRE + + The horns were as empty. + +CONALL + + When + He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again. + +CUCHULAIN + + Why, this is a tale worth telling. + +CONALL + + And he called for his debt and his right, + And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night + If we did not pay him his debt. + +LAEGAIRE + + What is there to be said + When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head? + +CONALL + + If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us. + +LAEGAIRE + + He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house + And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day. + +CONALL + + He would have followed after if we had run away. + +LAEGAIRE + + Will he tell every mother's son that we have broken our word? + +CUCHULAIN + + Whether he does or does not we'll drive him out with the sword, + And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff. + +CONALL + + How can you fight with a head that laughs when you've whipped it off? + +LAEGAIRE + + Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand? + +CONALL + + He is coming now, there's a splash and a rumble along the strand + As when he came last. + +CUCHULAIN + + Come, and put all your backs to the door. + + [_A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked man stands upon the threshold + against the misty green of the sea; the ground, higher without than + within the house, makes him seem taller even than he is. He leans + upon a great two-handed sword_] + +LAEGAIRE + + It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more + And laughs like the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old herring--You whip off heads! Why, then + Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again. + Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say, + Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away; + Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort, + Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport + Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest + A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west. + But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say! + If there's no sword can harm you, I've an older trick to play, + An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place; + I am Sualtim's son Cuchulain--what, do you laugh in my face? + +RED MAN + + So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll! + A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler's feat, that is all, + To make the time go quickly--for I am the drinker's friend, + The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world's end, + The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift: + I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift, + + [_He lays his Helmet on the ground_] + + And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best. + O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest. + Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup. + There, I'm forgiven now-- + + [_Then in a more solemn voice as he goes out_] + + Let the bravest take it up. + + [_CONALL takes up Helmet and gazes at it with delight_] + + LAEGAIRE + + [_Singing, with a swaggering stride_] + + Laegaire is best; + Between water and hill, + He fought in the west + With cat heads, until + At the break of day + All fell by his sword, + And he carried away + Their hidden hoard. + + [_He seizes the Helmet_] + +CONALL + + Give it me, for what did you find in the bag + But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag + You'd taken for good money? + +CUCHULAIN + + No, no, but give it me. + + [_He takes Helmet_] + +CONALL + + The Helmet's mine or Laegaire's--you're the youngest of us three. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Filling Helmet with ale_] + + I did not take it to keep it--the Red Man gave it for one, + But I shall give it to all--to all of us three or to none; + That is as you look upon it--we will pass it to and fro, + And time and time about, drink out of it and so + Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives. + Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives, + And I drink to Emer, my wife. + + [_A great noise without and shouting_] + + Why, what in God's name is that noise? + +CONALL + + What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys + Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own, + That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they'll keep it up till the dawn, + And there's not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night, + Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight. + + [_A noise of horns without_] + + There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each + They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other's speech + For fear the truth may prevail.--Here's your good health and long life, + And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife. + + [_The charioteers, Stable Boys and Kitchen Boys come running in. + They carry great horns, ladles and the like_] + +LAEG + + I am Laeg, Cuchulain's driver, and my master's cock of the yard. + +ANOTHER + + Conall would scatter his feathers. + + [_Confused murmurs_] + +LAEGAIRE + + [_To_ CUCHULAIN] + + No use, they won't hear a word. + +CONALL + + They'll keep it up till the dawn. + +ANOTHER + + It is Laegaire that is the best, + For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest + And drained his ale pot. + +ANOTHER + + Laegaire--what does a man of his sort + Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport. + +ANOTHER + + It was all mere luck at the best. + +ANOTHER + + But Conall, I say-- + +ANOTHER + + Let me speak. + +LAEG + + You'd be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak. + +ANOTHER + + Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight. + +LAEG + + Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite, + For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began. + +ANOTHER + + Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Who was it started this quarrel? + +A STABLE BOY + + It was Laeg. + +ANOTHER + + It was Laeg done it all. + +LAEG + + A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall, + Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind, + And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind, + That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth. + So I cried your name through the hall, + + [_The others cry out and blow horns, partly drowning the rest of his + speech_] + + but they denied its worth, + Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice; + But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise + Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face, + And as neither side would give in--we would settle it in this place. + Let the Helmet be taken from Conall. + +A STABLE BOY + + No, Conall is the best man here. + +ANOTHER + + Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear. + +CUCHULAIN + + It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease, + We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace. + I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now, + + [_CONALL gives Helmet to LAEGAIRE_] + + That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know + That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight. + +A SERVANT + + That's well--I will stop my shouting. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain is in the right; + I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + By drinking the first he took + The whole of the honours himself. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain and Conall have drunk. + +ANOTHER + + He is lost if he taste a drop. + +LAEGAIRE + + [_Laying Helmet on table_] + + Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup? + +CUCHULAIN + + [_His words are partly drowned by the murmurs of the crowd though he + speaks very loud_] + + That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is + Who has set us all by the ears--he brought the Helmet for this, + And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout + That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out. + + [_The murmur grows less so that his words are heard_] + + Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight? + So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night, + Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn. + +A SERVANT + + Cuchulain is in the right--I am tired of this big horn. + +CUCHULAIN + + Go! + + [_The Servants turn toward the door but stop on hearing the voices + of Women outside_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + Mine is the better to look at. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + But mine is better born. + +EMER + + [_Without_] + + My man is the pithier man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old hurricane, well done! + You've set our wives to the game that they may egg us on; + We are to kill each other that you may sport with us. + Ah, now, they've begun to wrestle as to who'll be first at the house. + + [_The Women come to the door struggling_] + +EMER + + No, I have the right of place for I married the better man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Pulling Emer back_] + + My nails in your neck and shoulder. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + And go before me if you can. + My husband fought in the West. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Kneeling in the door so as to keep the others out who pull at + her_] + + But what did he fight with there + But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air? + And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf? + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself, + Drowning his terror. + +EMER + + [_Forcing herself in front_] + + I am Emer, it is I go first through the door. + No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before + My man has been praised. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Spreading his arms across the door so as to close it_] + + Come, put an end to their quarrelling: + One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king. + Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor + That they come in together, each one at her own door. + + [_LAEGAIRE and CONALL begin to break out the bottoms of the windows, + then their wives go to the windows, each to the window where her + husband is. EMER stands at the door and sings while the boards are + being broken out_] + +EMER + + Nothing that he has done, + His mind that is fire, + His body that is sun, + Have set my head higher + Than all the world's wives. + Himself on the wind + Is the gift that he gives, + Therefore womenkind, + When their eyes have met mine, + Grow cold and grow hot, + Troubled as with wine + By a secret thought, + Preyed upon, fed upon + By jealousy and desire. + I am moon to that sun, + I am steel to that fire, + + [_The windows are now broken down to floor. CUCHULAIN takes his + spear from the door, and the three Women come in at the same + moment_] + +EMER + + Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake: + I will sing till I've stiffened your lip against every knave that would + take + A share of your honour. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + You lie, for your man would take from my man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_To LAEGAIRE'S WIFE_] + + You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Taking up Helmet from table_] + + Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack, + The very straws may wrangle till they've thrown down the stack; + The very door-posts bicker till they've pulled in the door, + The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor, + But this shall help no further. + + [_He throws Helmet into the sea_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + It was not for your head, + And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + But you shall answer for it, for you've robbed my man by this. + +CONALL + + You have robbed us both, Cuchulain. + +LAEGAIRE + + The greatest wrong there is + On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day. + +EMER + + [_Drawing her dagger_] + + Who is for Cuchulain? + +CUCHULAIN + + Silence! + +EMER + + Who is for Cuchulain, I say? + + [_She sings the same words as before, flourishing her dagger about. + While she is singing, CONALL'S WIFE and LAEGAIRE'S WIFE draw their + daggers and run at her, but CUCHULAIN forces them back. LAEGAIRE and + CONALL draw their swords to strike CUCHULAIN_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Crying out so as to be heard through EMER'S singing_] + + Deafen her singing with horns! + +CONALL'S WIFE + + Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise! + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice! + + [_The Horse Boys and Scullions blow their horns or fight among + themselves. There is a deafening noise and a confused fight. + Suddenly three black hands come through the windows and put out the + torches. It is now pitch dark, but for a faint light outside the + house which merely shows that there are moving forms, but not who or + what they are, and in the darkness one can hear low terrified + voices_] + +A VOICE + + Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air. + + [_A light gradually comes into the house from the sea, on which the + moon begins to show once more. There is no light within the house, + and the great beams of the walls are dark and full of shadows, and + the persons of the play dark too against the light. The RED MAN is + seen standing in the midst of the house. The black cat-headed Men + crouch and stand about the door. One carries the Helmet, one the + great sword_] + +RED MAN + + I demand the debt that's owing. Let some man kneel down there + That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack. + +CUCHULAIN + + He played and paid with his head and it's right that we pay him back, + And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: + So I will give him my head. + + [_EMER begins to keen_] + + Little wife, little wife, be at rest. + Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun, + And been no faithful man; but when my story is done + My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all. + +EMER + + [_Putting her arms about him_] + + It is you, not your fame, that I love. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Tries to put her from him_] + + You are young, you are wise, you can call + Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house. + +EMER + + Live and be faithless still. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Throwing her from him_] + + Would you stay the great barnacle-goose + When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air? + +EMER + + [_Lifting her dagger to stab herself_] + + I, too, on the grey wing's path. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Seizing dagger_] + + Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare? + Bear children and sweep the house. + + [_Forcing his way through the Servants who gather round_] + + Wail, but keep from the road. + + [_He kneels before RED MAN. There is a pause_] + + Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed. + + [_A black cat-headed Man holds out the Helmet. The RED MAN takes it_] + +RED MAN + + I have not come for your hurt, I'm the Rector of this land, + And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band, + Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship + The man who hits my fancy. + + [_He places the Helmet on CUCHULAIN'S head_] + + And I choose the laughing lip + That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall, + The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all; + The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler's throw; + And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know, + When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong, + And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song. + + + [Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Helmet and Other Poems, by +William Butler Yeats + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 *** diff --git a/30488-h.zip b/30488-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7071368 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h.zip diff --git a/30488-h/30488-h.htm b/30488-h/30488-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff81da8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/30488-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1904 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of the Green Helmet and Other Poems, by William Butler Yeats. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + body { margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%; text-align: justify; } + p { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: -1.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; } + p.noind { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: 0; } + + h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; width: 70%; height: 5px; background-color: #dcdcdc; } + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.art { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 40%; height: 5px; background-color: #708090; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em } + + table.nobctr { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + table.reg { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } + table p { margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; } + + td.tc1 { padding-right: 0; padding-left: 0; text-align: center; } + td.tc5 { padding-right: 0; padding-left: 0; text-align: left; } + + a:link, a:visited, link {text-decoration: none} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; } + + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 5%; text-align: right; font-size: 10pt; + background-color: #f5f5f5; color: #778899; text-indent: 0; + padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em; font-style: normal; } + + .figcenter {text-align: center; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + div.poemr {margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + div.poemr p, div.play p {margin-left: 4em; text-indent: -4em; margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; } + div.poemr p.s { margin-top: 1.5em; } + div.poemr p.last { margin-bottom: 3em; } + + div.play {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%} + div.play p.dir {padding-left: 3em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + div.play p.person { font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; + margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; text-indent: 0; margin-left: 10em; } + + .pd05 {padding-top: 0.5em;} + .pd2 {padding-top: 2em;} + .pd3 {padding-top: 3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 ***</div> + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:539px; height:800px" + src="images/img02.jpg" + alt="Cover." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h4>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h4> +<h4>OTHER POEMS</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + + +<h2>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h2> +<h2>OTHER POEMS</h2> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS</h3> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> +<h4>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h4> +<h5>LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="sc">Ltd.</span></h5> +<h5>1912</h5> + +<h6><i>All rights reserved</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<h6>Copyright, 1911, by<br /> +<span class="sc">William Butler Yeats</span></h6> + +<h6>Copyright, 1912, by<br /> +<span class="sc">The Macmillan Co.</span></h6> + +<h6><i>Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h3> +<h3>OTHER POEMS</h3> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<div class="pd05"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>1</span></p> +<h3>HIS DREAM</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I swayed upon the gaudy stern</p> +<p>The butt end of a steering oar,</p> +<p>And everywhere that I could turn</p> +<p>Men ran upon the shore.</p> + +<p class="s">And though I would have hushed the crowd</p> +<p>There was no mother’s son but said,</p> +<p>“What is the figure in a shroud</p> +<p>Upon a gaudy bed?”</p> + +<p class="s">And fishes bubbling to the brim</p> +<p>Cried out upon that thing beneath,</p> +<p>It had such dignity of limb,</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2"></a>2</span></p> + +<p class="s">Though I’d my finger on my lip,</p> +<p>What could I but take up the song?</p> +<p>And fish and crowd and gaudy ship</p> +<p>Cried out the whole night long,</p> + +<p class="s">Crying amid the glittering sea,</p> +<p>Naming it with ecstatic breath,</p> +<p>Because it had such dignity</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"></a>3</span></p> + +<h3>A WOMAN HOMER SUNG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>If any man drew near</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>I thought, “He holds her dear,”</p> +<p>And shook with hate and fear.</p> +<p>But oh, ’twas bitter wrong</p> +<p>If he could pass her by</p> +<p>With an indifferent eye.</p> + +<p class="s">Whereon I wrote and wrought,</p> +<p>And now, being gray,</p> +<p>I dream that I have brought</p> +<p>To such a pitch my thought</p> +<p>That coming time can say,</p> +<p>“He shadowed in a glass</p> +<p>What thing her body was.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>4</span></p> + +<p class="s">For she had fiery blood</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>And trod so sweetly proud</p> +<p>As ’twere upon a cloud,</p> +<p>A woman Homer sung,</p> +<p>That life and letters seem</p> +<p>But an heroic dream.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>5</span></p> + +<h3>THAT THE NIGHT COME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>She lived in storm and strife.</p> +<p>Her soul had such desire</p> +<p>For what proud death may bring</p> +<p>That it could not endure</p> +<p>The common good of life,</p> +<p>But lived as ’twere a king</p> +<p>That packed his marriage day</p> +<p>With banneret and pennon,</p> +<p>Trumpet and kettledrum,</p> +<p>And the outrageous cannon,</p> +<p>To bundle Time away</p> +<p>That the night come.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>6</span></p> + +<h3>THE CONSOLATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I had this thought awhile ago,</p> +<p>“My darling cannot understand</p> +<p>What I have done, or what would do</p> +<p>In this blind bitter land.”</p> + +<p class="s">And I grew weary of the sun</p> +<p>Until my thoughts cleared up again,</p> +<p>Remembering that the best I have done</p> +<p>Was done to make it plain;</p> + +<p class="s">That every year I have cried, “At length</p> +<p>My darling understands it all,</p> +<p>Because I have come into my strength,</p> +<p>And words obey my call.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>7</span></p> + +<p class="s">That had she done so who can say</p> +<p>What would have shaken from the sieve?</p> +<p>I might have thrown poor words away</p> +<p>And been content to live.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"></a>8</span></p> + +<h3>FRIENDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Now must I these three praise—</p> +<p>Three women that have wrought</p> +<p>What joy is in my days;</p> +<p>One that no passing thought,</p> +<p>Nor those unpassing cares,</p> +<p>No, not in these fifteen</p> +<p>Many times troubled years,</p> +<p>Could ever come between</p> +<p>Heart and delighted heart;</p> +<p>And one because her hand</p> +<p>Had strength that could unbind</p> +<p>What none can understand,</p> +<p>What none can have and thrive,</p> +<p>Youth’s dreamy load, till she</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>9</span></p> +<p>So changed me that I live</p> +<p>Labouring in ecstasy.</p> +<p>And what of her that took</p> +<p>All till my youth was gone</p> +<p>With scarce a pitying look?</p> +<p>How should I praise that one?</p> +<p>When day begins to break</p> +<p>I count my good and bad,</p> +<p>Being wakeful for her sake,</p> +<p>Remembering what she had,</p> +<p>What eagle look still shows,</p> +<p>While up from my heart’s root</p> +<p>So great a sweetness flows</p> +<p>I shake from head to foot.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>10</span></p> + +<h3>NO SECOND TROY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Why should I blame her that she filled my days</p> +<p>With misery, or that she would of late</p> +<p>Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,</p> +<p>Or hurled the little streets upon the great,</p> +<p>Had they but courage equal to desire?</p> +<p>What could have made her peaceful with a mind</p> +<p>That nobleness made simple as a fire,</p> +<p>With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind</p> +<p>That is not natural in an age like this,</p> +<p>Being high and solitary and most stern?</p> +<p>Why, what could she have done being what she is?</p> +<p>Was there another Troy for her to burn?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>11</span></p> + +<h3>RECONCILIATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Some may have blamed you that you took away</p> +<p>The verses that could move them on the day</p> +<p>When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind</p> +<p>With lightning you went from me, and I could find</p> +<p>Nothing to make a song about but kings,</p> +<p>Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things</p> +<p>That were like memories of you—but now</p> +<p>We’ll out, for the world lives as long ago;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>12</span></p> +<p>And while we’re in our laughing, weeping fit,</p> +<p>Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit.</p> +<p>But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone,</p> +<p>My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>13</span></p> + +<h3>KING AND NO KING</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Would it were anything but merely voice!”</p> +<p>The No King cried who after that was King,</p> +<p>Because he had not heard of anything</p> +<p>That balanced with a word is more than noise;</p> +<p>Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail</p> +<p>Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot,</p> +<p>Though he’d but cannon—Whereas we that had thought</p> +<p>To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>14</span></p> +<p>Have been defeated by that pledge you gave</p> +<p>In momentary anger long ago;</p> +<p>And I that have not your faith, how shall I know</p> +<p>That in the blinding light beyond the grave</p> +<p>We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost?</p> +<p>The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,</p> +<p>The habitual content of each with each</p> +<p>When neither soul nor body has been crossed.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>15</span></p> + +<h3>THE COLD HEAVEN</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven</p> +<p>That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,</p> +<p>And thereupon imagination and heart were driven</p> +<p>So wild, that every casual thought of that and this</p> +<p>Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season</p> +<p>With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;</p> +<p>And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>16</span></p> +<p>Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,</p> +<p>Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,</p> +<p>Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent</p> +<p>Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken</p> +<p>By the injustice of the skies for punishment?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>17</span></p> + +<h3>PEACE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Ah, that Time could touch a form</p> +<p>That could show what Homer’s age</p> +<p>Bred to be a hero’s wage.</p> +<p>“Were not all her life but storm,</p> +<p>Would not painters paint a form</p> +<p>Of such noble lines” I said.</p> +<p>“Such a delicate high head,</p> +<p>So much sternness and such charm,</p> +<p>Till they had changed us to like strength?”</p> +<p>Ah, but peace that comes at length,</p> +<p>Came when Time had touched her form.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>18</span></p> + +<h3>AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>O heart, be at peace, because</p> +<p>Nor knave nor dolt can break</p> +<p>What’s not for their applause,</p> +<p>Being for a woman’s sake.</p> +<p>Enough if the work has seemed,</p> +<p>So did she your strength renew,</p> +<p>A dream that a lion had dreamed</p> +<p>Till the wilderness cried aloud,</p> +<p>A secret between you two,</p> +<p>Between the proud and the proud.</p> + +<p class="s">What, still you would have their praise!</p> +<p>But here’s a haughtier text,</p> +<p>The labyrinth of her days</p> +<p>That her own strangeness perplexed;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"></a>19</span></p> +<p>And how what her dreaming gave</p> +<p>Earned slander, ingratitude,</p> +<p>From self-same dolt and knave;</p> +<p>Aye, and worse wrong than these.</p> +<p>Yet she, singing upon her road,</p> +<p>Half lion, half child, is at peace.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"></a>20</span></p> + +<h3>THE FASCINATION OF WHAT’S +DIFFICULT</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>The fascination of what’s difficult</p> +<p>Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent</p> +<p>Spontaneous joy and natural content</p> +<p>Out of my heart. There’s something ails our colt</p> +<p>That must, as if it had not holy blood,</p> +<p>Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,</p> +<p>Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt</p> +<p>As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays</p> +<p>That have to be set up in fifty ways,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>21</span></p> +<p>On the day’s war with every knave and dolt,</p> +<p>Theatre business, management of men.</p> +<p>I swear before the dawn comes round again</p> +<p>I’ll find the stable and pull out the bolt.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>22</span></p> + +<h3>A DRINKING SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Wine comes in at the mouth</p> +<p>And love comes in at the eye;</p> +<p>That’s all we shall know for truth</p> +<p>Before we grow old and die.</p> +<p>I lift the glass to my mouth,</p> +<p>I look at you, and I sigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>23</span></p> + +<h3>THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH +TIME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Though leaves are many, the root is one;</p> +<p>Through all the lying days of my youth</p> +<p>I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;</p> +<p>Now I may wither into the truth.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>24</span></p> + +<h3>ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS +OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY +HAVE JOINED THE ANCIENT +ORDER OF HIBERNIANS +AND THE AGITATION AGAINST +IMMORAL LITERATURE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,</p> +<p>That long to give themselves for wage,</p> +<p>To shake their wicked sides at youth</p> +<p>Restraining reckless middle-age.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>25</span></p> + +<h3>TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME +PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, +IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>You say, as I have often given tongue</p> +<p>In praise of what another’s said or sung,</p> +<p>’Twere politic to do the like by these;</p> +<p>But where’s the wild dog that has praised his fleas?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>26</span></p> + +<h3>THE ATTACK ON THE +“PLAY BOY”</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Once, when midnight smote the air,</p> +<p>Eunuchs ran through Hell and met</p> +<p>Round about Hell’s gate, to stare</p> +<p>At great Juan riding by,</p> +<p>And like these to rail and sweat,</p> +<p>Maddened by that sinewy thigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>27</span></p> + +<h3>A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED +PLAY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Put off that mask of burning gold</p> +<p>With emerald eyes.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, you make so bold</p> +<p>To find if hearts be wild and wise,</p> +<p>And yet not cold.”</p> + +<p class="s">“I would but find what’s there to find,</p> +<p>Love or deceit.”</p> +<p>“It was the mask engaged your mind,</p> +<p>And after set your heart to beat,</p> +<p>Not what’s behind.”</p> + +<p class="s">“But lest you are my enemy,</p> +<p>I must enquire.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, let all that be,</p> +<p>What matter, so there is but fire</p> +<p>In you, in me?”</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"></a>28</span></p> + +<h3>UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY +THE LAND AGITATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>How should the world be luckier if this house,</p> +<p>Where passion and precision have been one</p> +<p>Time out of mind, became too ruinous</p> +<p>To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun?</p> +<p>And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow</p> +<p>Where wings have memory of wings, and all</p> +<p>That comes of the best knit to the best? Although</p> +<p>Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>29</span></p> +<p>How should their luck run high enough to reach</p> +<p>The gifts that govern men, and after these</p> +<p>To gradual Time’s last gift, a written speech</p> +<p>Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>30</span></p> + +<h3>AT THE ABBEY THEATRE</h3> + +<h5><i>Imitated from Ronsard</i></h5> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case.</p> +<p>When we are high and airy hundreds say</p> +<p>That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,</p> +<p>While those same hundreds mock another day</p> +<p>Because we have made our art of common things,</p> +<p>So bitterly, you’d dream they longed to look</p> +<p>All their lives through into some drift of wings.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>31</span></p> +<p>You’ve dandled them and fed them from the book</p> +<p>And know them to the bone; impart to us—</p> +<p>We’ll keep the secret—a new trick to please.</p> +<p>Is there a bridle for this Proteus</p> +<p>That turns and changes like his draughty seas?</p> +<p>Or is there none, most popular of men,</p> +<p>But when they mock us that we mock again?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>32</span></p> + +<h3>THESE ARE THE CLOUDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye;</p> +<p>The weak lay hand on what the strong has done,</p> +<p>Till that be tumbled that was lifted high</p> +<p>And discord follow upon unison,</p> +<p>And all things at one common level lie.</p> +<p>And therefore, friend, if your great race were run</p> +<p>And these things came, so much the more thereby</p> +<p>Have you made greatness your companion,</p> +<p>Although it be for children that you sigh:</p> +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>33</span></p> + +<h3>AT GALWAY RACES</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Out yonder, where the race course is,</p> +<p>Delight makes all of the one mind,</p> +<p>Riders upon the swift horses,</p> +<p>The field that closes in behind:</p> +<p>We, too, had good attendance once,</p> +<p>Hearers and hearteners of the work;</p> +<p>Aye, horsemen for companions,</p> +<p>Before the merchant and the clerk</p> +<p>Breathed on the world with timid breath.</p> +<p>Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon,</p> +<p>We’ll learn that sleeping is not death,</p> +<p>Hearing the whole earth change its tune,</p> +<p>Its flesh being wild, and it again</p> +<p>Crying aloud as the race course is,</p> +<p>And we find hearteners among men</p> +<p>That ride upon horses.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>34</span></p> + +<h3>A FRIEND’S ILLNESS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Sickness brought me this</p> +<p>Thought, in that scale of his:</p> +<p>Why should I be dismayed</p> +<p>Though flame had burned the whole</p> +<p>World, as it were a coal,</p> +<p>Now I have seen it weighed</p> +<p>Against a soul?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>35</span></p> + +<h3>ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:</p> +<p>One time it was a woman’s face, or worse—</p> +<p>The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;</p> +<p>Now nothing but comes readier to the hand</p> +<p>Than this accustomed toil. When I was young,</p> +<p>I had not given a penny for a song</p> +<p>Did not the poet sing it with such airs</p> +<p>That one believed he had a sword upstairs;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>36</span></p> +<p>Yet would be now, could I but have my wish,</p> +<p>Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"></a>37</span></p> + +<h3>THE YOUNG MAN’S SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I whispered, “I am too young,”</p> +<p>And then, “I am old enough,”</p> +<p>Wherefore I threw a penny</p> +<p>To find out if I might love;</p> +<p>“Go and love, go and love, young man,</p> +<p>If the lady be young and fair,”</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>I am looped in the loops of her hair.</p> + +<p class="s">Oh love is the crooked thing,</p> +<p>There is nobody wise enough</p> +<p>To find out all that is in it,</p> +<p>For he would be thinking of love</p> +<p>Till the stars had run away,</p> +<p>And the shadows eaten the moon;</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>One cannot begin it too soon.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>38</span></p> + + + + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>39</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>40</span></p> + +<h3>THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY</h3> + +<table class="nobctr" width="70%" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc" style="width: 50%;">Laegaire</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Laegaire’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Conall</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Conall’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Cuchulain</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Laeg</span>, <i>Cuchulain’s chariot-driver</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Emer</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Red Man</span>, <i>A Spirit</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc1" colspan="2">Horse Boys and Scullions, +Black Men, etc.</td></tr> +</table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>41</span></p> + +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="art" /> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Scene</span>: <i>A house made of logs. There +are two windows at the back and a door +which cuts off one of the corners of the +room. Through the door one can see low +rocks which make the ground outside +higher than it is within, and beyond the +rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the +windows one can see nothing but the sea. +There is a great chair at the opposite +side to the door, and in front of it a table +with cups and a flagon of ale. Here and +there are stools.</i></p> + +<p style="text-indent: 1em;"><i>At the Abbey Theatre the house is +orange red and the chairs and tables and +flagons black, with a slight purple tinge +which is not clearly distinguishable from +the black. The rocks are black with a +few green touches. The sea is green and +luminous, and all the characters except</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>42</span> +<i>the <span class="sc">Red Man</span> and the Black Men are +dressed in various shades of green, one +or two with touches of purple which look +nearly black. The Black Men all wear +dark purple and have eared caps, and at +the end their eyes should look green from +the reflected light of the sea. The <span class="sc">Red +Man</span> is altogether in red. He is very tall, +and his height increased by horns on the +Green Helmet. The effect is intentionally +violent and startling.</i></p> + +<div class="play"> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an eye,</p> +<p>A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by;</p> +<p>But that could not be.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">You have dreamed it—there’s nothing out there.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>43</span></p> +<p>I killed them all before daybreak—I hoked them out of their lair;</p> +<p>I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword,</p> +<p>And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Not even a fish or a gull:</p> +<p>I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon’s at the full.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A distant shout.</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Ah—there—there is someone who calls us.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>44</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But from the landward side,</p> +<p>And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide;</p> +<p>The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise,</p> +<p>But the land will do us no harm.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was like Cuchulain’s voice.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>But that’s an impossible thing.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">An impossible thing indeed.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>For he will never come home, he has all that he could need</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"></a>45</span></p> +<p>In that high windy Scotland—good luck in all that he does.</p> +<p>Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows,</p> +<p>And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away,</p> +<p>And take his good name from him between a day and a day.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>I would he’d come for all that, and make his young wife know</p> +<p>That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go</p> +<p>Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night</p> +<p>Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"></a>46</span></p> +<p>And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can.</p> +<p>She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin</p> +<p>Comes down through the rocks and hazels.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cry out that he cannot come in.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop</p> +<p>Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"></a>47</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + +<p>Go away, go away, go away.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I will go when the night is through</p> +<p>And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart’s delight.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Who made that law?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>48</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We made it, and who has so good a right?</p> +<p>Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day?</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He pushes past <span class="sc">Conall</span> and goes +into house</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door,</p> +<p>Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor;</p> +<p>And had I been rightly ready there’s no man living could do it,</p> +<p>Dip or no dip.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"></a>49</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Go out—if you have your wits, go out,</p> +<p>A stone’s throw further on you will find a big house where</p> +<p>Our wives will give you supper, and you’ll sleep sounder there,</p> +<p>For it’s a luckier house.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">I’ll eat and sleep where I will.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Go out or I will make you.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing up <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> arm, passing +him and putting his shield on the wall +over the chair</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Not till I have drunk my fill.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>50</span></p> +<p>But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder’s up.</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top,</p> +<p>And the cups—</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p>It is Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p>The cups are dry as a bone.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He sits on chair and drinks</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone</p> +<p>From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>51</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I am losing patience, Conall—I find you stuffed with pride,</p> +<p>The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide;</p> +<p>You’d put me off with words, but the whole thing’s plain enough,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>52</span></p> +<p>You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love</p> +<p>In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves,</p> +<p>Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves</p> +<p>Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro;</p> +<p>But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no,</p> +<p>I am going too.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Better tell it all out to the end;</p> +<p>He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend</p> +<p>The bad luck we were born to.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>53</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">I’ll lay the whole thing bare.</p> +<p>You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there.</p> +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Not even a fish or a gull.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full.</p> +<p>We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke</p> +<p>When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak,</p> +<p>With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>54</span></p> +<p>And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth</p> +<p>He could drink the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I thought he had come from one of you</p> +<p>Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew;</p> +<p>But if he so loved water I have the tale awry.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You would not be so merry if he were standing by,</p> +<p>For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin</p> +<p>He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>55</span></p> +<p>And when we had asked what game, he answered, “Why, whip off my head!</p> +<p>Then one of you two stoop down, and I’ll whip off his,” he said.</p> +<p>“A head for a head,” he said, “that is the game that I play.”</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit,</p> +<p>But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split,</p> +<p>Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>56</span></p> +<p>Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so,</p> +<p>And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Till he took it up in his hands—</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And splashed himself into the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I have imagined as good when I’ve been as deep in the cup.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>You never did.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">And believed it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>57</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain, when will you stop</p> +<p>Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two,</p> +<p>And crying out to the world whatever we say or do,</p> +<p>That you’ve said or done a better?—Nor is it a drunkard’s tale,</p> +<p>Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale,</p> +<p>And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock,</p> +<p>Swore we should keep it secret.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">But twelve months upon the clock.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A twelvemonth from the first time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>58</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And the jug full up to the brim:</p> +<p>For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We stood as we’re standing now.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">The horns were as empty.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 8em;">When</p> +<p>He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Why, this is a tale worth telling.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>59</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>And he called for his debt and his right,</p> +<p>And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night</p> +<p>If we did not pay him his debt.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">What is there to be said</p> +<p>When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house</p> +<p>And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>60</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He would have followed after if we had run away.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Will he tell every mother’s son that we have broken our word?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Whether he does or does not we’ll drive him out with the sword,</p> +<p>And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>How can you fight with a head that laughs when you’ve whipped it off?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>61</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He is coming now, there’s a splash and a rumble along the strand</p> +<p>As when he came last.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Come, and put all your backs to the door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked +man stands upon the threshold +against the misty green of the +sea; the ground, higher without +than within the house, makes him +seem taller even than he is. He +leans upon a great two-handed +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more</p> +<p>And laughs like the sea.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>62</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Old herring—You whip off heads! Why, then</p> +<p>Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again.</p> +<p>Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say,</p> +<p>Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away;</p> +<p>Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort,</p> +<p>Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport</p> +<p>Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest</p> +<p>A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>63</span></p> +<p>But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say!</p> +<p>If there’s no sword can harm you, I’ve an older trick to play,</p> +<p>An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place;</p> +<p>I am Sualtim’s son Cuchulain—what, do you laugh in my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll!</p> +<p>A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler’s feat, that is all,</p> +<p>To make the time go quickly—for I am the drinker’s friend,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>64</span></p> +<p>The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world’s end,</p> +<p>The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift:</p> +<p>I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He lays his Helmet on the ground</i>]</p> + +<p>And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best.</p> +<p>O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest.</p> +<p>Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup.</p> +<p>There, I’m forgiven now—</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Then in a more solemn voice as he +goes out</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Let the bravest take it up.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> takes up Helmet and gazes +at it with delight</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>65</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Singing, with a swaggering stride</i>]</p> + +<p>Laegaire is best;</p> +<p>Between water and hill,</p> +<p>He fought in the west</p> +<p>With cat heads, until</p> +<p>At the break of day</p> +<p>All fell by his sword,</p> +<p>And he carried away</p> +<p>Their hidden hoard.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He seizes the Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Give it me, for what did you find in the bag</p> +<p>But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag</p> +<p>You’d taken for good money?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>66</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">No, no, but give it me.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He takes Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>The Helmet’s mine or Laegaire’s—you’re the youngest of us three.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Filling Helmet with ale</i>]</p> + +<p>I did not take it to keep it—the Red Man gave it for one,</p> +<p>But I shall give it to all—to all of us three or to none;</p> +<p>That is as you look upon it—we will pass it to and fro,</p> +<p>And time and time about, drink out of it and so</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>67</span></p> +<p>Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives.</p> +<p>Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives,</p> +<p>And I drink to Emer, my wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A great noise without and shouting</i>]</p> + +<p>Why, what in God’s name is that noise?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys</p> +<p>Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own,</p> +<p>That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they’ll keep it up till the dawn,</p> +<p>And there’s not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>68</span></p> +<p>Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A noise of horns without</i>]</p> + +<p>There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each</p> +<p>They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other’s speech</p> +<p>For fear the truth may prevail.—Here’s your good health and long life,</p> +<p>And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Charioteers, Stable Boys and +Kitchen Boys come running in. +They carry great horns, ladles +and the like</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>I am Laeg, Cuchulain’s driver, and my master’s cock of the yard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>69</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall would scatter his feathers.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Confused murmurs</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No use, they won’t hear a word.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>They’ll keep it up till the dawn.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">It is Laegaire that is the best,</p> +<p>For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest</p> +<p>And drained his ale pot.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Laegaire—what does a man of his sort</p> +<p>Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>70</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>It was all mere luck at the best.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But Conall, I say—</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Let me speak.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>You’d be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite,</p> +<p>For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>71</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Who was it started this quarrel?</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">It was Laeg.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was Laeg done it all.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall,</p> +<p>Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind,</p> +<p>And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>72</span></p> +<p>That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth.</p> +<p>So I cried your name through the hall,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The others cry out and blow horns, +partly drowning the rest of his +speech</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">but they denied its worth,</p> +<p>Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice;</p> +<p>But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise</p> +<p>Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face,</p> +<p>And as neither side would give in—we would settle it in this place.</p> +<p>Let the Helmet be taken from Conall.</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No, Conall is the best man here.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>73</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease,</p> +<p>We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace.</p> +<p>I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> gives Helmet to <span class="sc">Laegaire</span></i>]</p> + +<p>That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know</p> +<p>That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>That’s well—I will stop my shouting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"></a>74</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain is in the right;</p> +<p>I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">By drinking the first he took</p> +<p>The whole of the honours himself.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>75</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Cuchulain and Conall have drunk.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">He is lost if he taste a drop.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Laying Helmet on table</i>]</p> + +<p>Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>His words are partly drowned by +the murmurs of the crowd though +he speaks very loud</i>]</p> + +<p>That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is</p> +<p>Who has set us all by the ears—he brought the Helmet for this,</p> +<p>And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>76</span></p> +<p>That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The murmur grows less so that + his words are heard</i>]</p> + +<p>Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight?</p> +<p>So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night,</p> +<p>Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>Cuchulain is in the right—I am tired of this big horn.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Go!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Servants turn toward the +door but stop on hearing the +voices of Women outside</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"></a>77</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Mine is the better to look at.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But mine is better born.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + +<p>My man is the pithier man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Old hurricane, well done!</p> +<p>You’ve set our wives to the game that they may egg us on;</p> +<p>We are to kill each other that you may sport with us.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>78</span></p> +<p>Ah, now, they’ve begun to wrestle as to who’ll be first at the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Women come to the door +struggling</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>No, I have the right of place for I married the better man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Pulling <span class="sc">Emer</span> back</i>]</p> + +<p>My nails in your neck and shoulder.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And go before me if you can.</p> +<p>My husband fought in the West.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Kneeling in the door so as to keep +the others out who pull at her</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">But what did he fight with there</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>79</span></p> +<p>But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air?</p> +<p>And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself,</p> +<p>Drowning his terror.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing herself in front</i>]</p> + +<p>I am Emer, it is I go first through the door.</p> +<p>No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before</p> +<p>My man has been praised.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"></a>80</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Spreading his arms across the door +so as to close it</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Come, put an end to their quarrelling:</p> +<p>One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king.</p> +<p>Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor</p> +<p>That they come in together, each one at her own door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> begin to +break out the bottoms of the windows, +then their wives go to the +windows, each to the window +where her husband is. <span class="sc">Emer</span> +stands at the door and sings +while the boards are being broken +out</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Nothing that he has done,</p> +<p>His mind that is fire,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>81</span></p> +<p>His body that is sun,</p> +<p>Have set my head higher</p> +<p>Than all the world’s wives.</p> +<p>Himself on the wind</p> +<p>Is the gift that he gives,</p> +<p>Therefore womenkind,</p> +<p>When their eyes have met mine,</p> +<p>Grow cold and grow hot,</p> +<p>Troubled as with wine</p> +<p>By a secret thought,</p> +<p>Preyed upon, fed upon</p> +<p>By jealousy and desire.</p> +<p>I am moon to that sun,</p> +<p>I am steel to that fire,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The windows are now broken down +to floor. <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> takes his +spear from the door, and the +three Women come in at the +same moment</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>82</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake:</p> +<p>I will sing till I’ve stiffened your lip against every knave that would take</p> +<p>A share of your honour.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>You lie, for your man would take from my man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Laegaire’s Wife</span></i>]</p> + +<p>You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Taking up Helmet from table</i>]</p> + +<p>Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>83</span></p> +<p>The very straws may wrangle till they’ve thrown down the stack;</p> +<p>The very door-posts bicker till they’ve pulled in the door,</p> +<p>The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor,</p> +<p>But this shall help no further.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He throws Helmet into the sea</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was not for your head,</p> +<p>And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p>But you shall answer for it, for you’ve robbed my man by this.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>84</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You have robbed us both, Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">The greatest wrong there is</p> +<p>On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Drawing her dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Who is for Cuchulain?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Silence!</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Who is for Cuchulain, I say?</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>She sings the same words as before, +flourishing her dagger +about. While she is singing, +<span class="sc">Conall’s Wife</span> and <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>85</span> +<span class="sc">Wife</span> draw their daggers and run +at her, but <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> forces +them back. <span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> +draw their swords to strike <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Crying out so as to be heard +through <span class="sc">Emer’s</span> singing</i>]</p> + +<p>Deafen her singing with horns!</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise!</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Horse Boys and Scullions +blow their horns or fight among +themselves. There is a deafening +noise and a confused fight. Suddenly +three black hands come</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>86</span> +<i>through the windows and put out +the torches. It is now pitch dark, +but for a faint light outside the +house which merely shows that +there are moving forms, but not +who or what they are, and in the +darkness one can hear low terrified +voices</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">A Voice</p> + +<p>Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A light gradually comes into the +house from the sea, on which the +moon begins to show once more.</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>87</span> +<i>There is no light within the +house, and the great beams of +the walls are dark and full of +shadows, and the persons of the +play dark too against the light. +The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> is seen standing in +the midst of the house. The +black cat-headed Men crouch and +stand about the door. One carries +the Helmet, one the great +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I demand the debt that’s owing. Let some man kneel down there</p> +<p>That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>He played and paid with his head and it’s right that we pay him back,</p> +<p>And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>88</span></p> +<p>So I will give him my head.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Emer</span> begins to keen</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Little wife, little wife, be at rest.</p> +<p>Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun,</p> +<p>And been no faithful man; but when my story is done</p> +<p>My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Putting her arms about him</i>]</p> + +<p>It is you, not your fame, that I love.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Tries to put her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>You are young, you are wise, you can call</p> +<p>Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>89</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Live and be faithless still.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Throwing her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>Would you stay the great barnacle-goose</p> +<p>When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air?</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Lifting her dagger to stab herself</i>]</p> + +<p>I, too, on the grey wing’s path.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Seizing dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare?</p> +<p>Bear children and sweep the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing his way through the Servants +who gather round</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>90</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Wail, but keep from the road.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He kneels before <span class="sc">Red Man</span>. There +is a pause</i>]</p> + +<p>Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A black cat-headed Man holds out +the Helmet. The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> takes +it</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I have not come for your hurt, I’m the Rector of this land,</p> +<p>And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band,</p> +<p>Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship</p> +<p>The man who hits my fancy.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He places the Helmet on <span class="sc">Cuchulain’s</span> +head</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"></a>91</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And I choose the laughing lip</p> +<p>That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall,</p> +<p>The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all;</p> +<p>The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler’s throw;</p> +<p>And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know,</p> +<p>When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong,</p> +<p>And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:200px; height:154px" + src="images/img01.jpg" + alt="Logo." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30488-h/images/img01.jpg b/30488-h/images/img01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b18c470 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/images/img01.jpg diff --git a/30488-h/images/img02.jpg b/30488-h/images/img02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..863f82b --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/images/img02.jpg diff --git a/30488.txt b/30488.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4de094a --- /dev/null +++ b/30488.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1925 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Green Helmet and Other Poems, by William Butler Yeats + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Green Helmet and Other Poems + +Author: William Butler Yeats + +Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30488] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + + + + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + BY + + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + + NEW YORK + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1912 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + Copyright, 1911, by + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + Copyright, 1912, by + THE MACMILLAN CO. + + _Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912_ + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + +HIS DREAM + + + I swayed upon the gaudy stern + The butt end of a steering oar, + And everywhere that I could turn + Men ran upon the shore. + + And though I would have hushed the crowd + There was no mother's son but said, + "What is the figure in a shroud + Upon a gaudy bed?" + + And fishes bubbling to the brim + Cried out upon that thing beneath, + It had such dignity of limb, + By the sweet name of Death. + + Though I'd my finger on my lip, + What could I but take up the song? + And fish and crowd and gaudy ship + Cried out the whole night long, + + Crying amid the glittering sea, + Naming it with ecstatic breath, + Because it had such dignity + By the sweet name of Death. + + + + +A WOMAN HOMER SUNG + + + If any man drew near + When I was young, + I thought, "He holds her dear," + And shook with hate and fear. + But oh, 'twas bitter wrong + If he could pass her by + With an indifferent eye. + + Whereon I wrote and wrought, + And now, being gray, + I dream that I have brought + To such a pitch my thought + That coming time can say, + "He shadowed in a glass + What thing her body was." + + For she had fiery blood + When I was young, + And trod so sweetly proud + As 'twere upon a cloud, + A woman Homer sung, + That life and letters seem + But an heroic dream. + + + + +THAT THE NIGHT COME + + + She lived in storm and strife. + Her soul had such desire + For what proud death may bring + That it could not endure + The common good of life, + But lived as 'twere a king + That packed his marriage day + With banneret and pennon, + Trumpet and kettledrum, + And the outrageous cannon, + To bundle Time away + That the night come. + + + + +THE CONSOLATION + + + I had this thought awhile ago, + "My darling cannot understand + What I have done, or what would do + In this blind bitter land." + + And I grew weary of the sun + Until my thoughts cleared up again, + Remembering that the best I have done + Was done to make it plain; + + That every year I have cried, "At length + My darling understands it all, + Because I have come into my strength, + And words obey my call." + + That had she done so who can say + What would have shaken from the sieve? + I might have thrown poor words away + And been content to live. + + + + +FRIENDS + + + Now must I these three praise-- + Three women that have wrought + What joy is in my days; + One that no passing thought, + Nor those unpassing cares, + No, not in these fifteen + Many times troubled years, + Could ever come between + Heart and delighted heart; + And one because her hand + Had strength that could unbind + What none can understand, + What none can have and thrive, + Youth's dreamy load, till she + So changed me that I live + Labouring in ecstasy. + And what of her that took + All till my youth was gone + With scarce a pitying look? + How should I praise that one? + When day begins to break + I count my good and bad, + Being wakeful for her sake, + Remembering what she had, + What eagle look still shows, + While up from my heart's root + So great a sweetness flows + I shake from head to foot. + + + + +NO SECOND TROY + + + Why should I blame her that she filled my days + With misery, or that she would of late + Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, + Or hurled the little streets upon the great, + Had they but courage equal to desire? + What could have made her peaceful with a mind + That nobleness made simple as a fire, + With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind + That is not natural in an age like this, + Being high and solitary and most stern? + Why, what could she have done being what she is? + Was there another Troy for her to burn? + + + + +RECONCILIATION + + + Some may have blamed you that you took away + The verses that could move them on the day + When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind + With lightning you went from me, and I could find + Nothing to make a song about but kings, + Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things + That were like memories of you--but now + We'll out, for the world lives as long ago; + And while we're in our laughing, weeping fit, + Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit. + But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone, + My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone. + + + + +KING AND NO KING + + + "Would it were anything but merely voice!" + The No King cried who after that was King, + Because he had not heard of anything + That balanced with a word is more than noise; + Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail + Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, + Though he'd but cannon--Whereas we that had thought + To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale + Have been defeated by that pledge you gave + In momentary anger long ago; + And I that have not your faith, how shall I know + That in the blinding light beyond the grave + We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost? + The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, + The habitual content of each with each + When neither soul nor body has been crossed. + + + + +THE COLD HEAVEN + + + Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven + That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, + And thereupon imagination and heart were driven + So wild, that every casual thought of that and this + Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season + With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago; + And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason, + Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro, + Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken, + Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent + Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken + By the injustice of the skies for punishment? + + + + +PEACE + + + Ah, that Time could touch a form + That could show what Homer's age + Bred to be a hero's wage. + "Were not all her life but storm, + Would not painters paint a form + Of such noble lines" I said. + "Such a delicate high head, + So much sternness and such charm, + Till they had changed us to like strength?" + Ah, but peace that comes at length, + Came when Time had touched her form. + + + + +AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE + + + O heart, be at peace, because + Nor knave nor dolt can break + What's not for their applause, + Being for a woman's sake. + Enough if the work has seemed, + So did she your strength renew, + A dream that a lion had dreamed + Till the wilderness cried aloud, + A secret between you two, + Between the proud and the proud. + + What, still you would have their praise! + But here's a haughtier text, + The labyrinth of her days + That her own strangeness perplexed; + And how what her dreaming gave + Earned slander, ingratitude, + From self-same dolt and knave; + Aye, and worse wrong than these. + Yet she, singing upon her road, + Half lion, half child, is at peace. + + + + +THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT + + + The fascination of what's difficult + Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent + Spontaneous joy and natural content + Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt + That must, as if it had not holy blood, + Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, + Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt + As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays + That have to be set up in fifty ways, + On the day's war with every knave and dolt, + Theatre business, management of men. + I swear before the dawn comes round again + I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt. + + + + +A DRINKING SONG + + + Wine comes in at the mouth + And love comes in at the eye; + That's all we shall know for truth + Before we grow old and die. + I lift the glass to my mouth, + I look at you, and I sigh. + + + + +THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME + + + Though leaves are many, the root is one; + Through all the lying days of my youth + I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; + Now I may wither into the truth. + + + + +ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE +ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS AND THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE + + + Where, where but here have Pride and Truth, + That long to give themselves for wage, + To shake their wicked sides at youth + Restraining reckless middle-age. + + + + +TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS +AND MINE + + + You say, as I have often given tongue + In praise of what another's said or sung, + 'Twere politic to do the like by these; + But where's the wild dog that has praised his fleas? + + + + +THE ATTACK ON THE "PLAY BOY" + + + Once, when midnight smote the air, + Eunuchs ran through Hell and met + Round about Hell's gate, to stare + At great Juan riding by, + And like these to rail and sweat, + Maddened by that sinewy thigh. + + + + +A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED PLAY + + + "Put off that mask of burning gold + With emerald eyes." + "O no, my dear, you make so bold + To find if hearts be wild and wise, + And yet not cold." + + "I would but find what's there to find, + Love or deceit." + "It was the mask engaged your mind, + And after set your heart to beat, + Not what's behind." + + "But lest you are my enemy, + I must enquire." + "O no, my dear, let all that be, + What matter, so there is but fire + In you, in me?" + + + + +UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY THE LAND AGITATION + + + How should the world be luckier if this house, + Where passion and precision have been one + Time out of mind, became too ruinous + To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun? + And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow + Where wings have memory of wings, and all + That comes of the best knit to the best? Although + Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall, + How should their luck run high enough to reach + The gifts that govern men, and after these + To gradual Time's last gift, a written speech + Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease? + + + + +AT THE ABBEY THEATRE + +_Imitated from Ronsard_ + + + Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case. + When we are high and airy hundreds say + That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place, + While those same hundreds mock another day + Because we have made our art of common things, + So bitterly, you'd dream they longed to look + All their lives through into some drift of wings. + You've dandled them and fed them from the book + And know them to the bone; impart to us-- + We'll keep the secret--a new trick to please. + Is there a bridle for this Proteus + That turns and changes like his draughty seas? + Or is there none, most popular of men, + But when they mock us that we mock again? + + + + +THESE ARE THE CLOUDS + + + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye; + The weak lay hand on what the strong has done, + Till that be tumbled that was lifted high + And discord follow upon unison, + And all things at one common level lie. + And therefore, friend, if your great race were run + And these things came, so much the more thereby + Have you made greatness your companion, + Although it be for children that you sigh: + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye. + + + + +AT GALWAY RACES + + + Out yonder, where the race course is, + Delight makes all of the one mind, + Riders upon the swift horses, + The field that closes in behind: + We, too, had good attendance once, + Hearers and hearteners of the work; + Aye, horsemen for companions, + Before the merchant and the clerk + Breathed on the world with timid breath. + Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon, + We'll learn that sleeping is not death, + Hearing the whole earth change its tune, + Its flesh being wild, and it again + Crying aloud as the race course is, + And we find hearteners among men + That ride upon horses. + + + + +A FRIEND'S ILLNESS + + + Sickness brought me this + Thought, in that scale of his: + Why should I be dismayed + Though flame had burned the whole + World, as it were a coal, + Now I have seen it weighed + Against a soul? + + + + +ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME + + + All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: + One time it was a woman's face, or worse-- + The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; + Now nothing but comes readier to the hand + Than this accustomed toil. When I was young, + I had not given a penny for a song + Did not the poet sing it with such airs + That one believed he had a sword upstairs; + Yet would be now, could I but have my wish, + Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish. + + + + +THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG + + + I whispered, "I am too young," + And then, "I am old enough," + Wherefore I threw a penny + To find out if I might love; + "Go and love, go and love, young man, + If the lady be young and fair," + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + I am looped in the loops of her hair. + + Oh love is the crooked thing, + There is nobody wise enough + To find out all that is in it, + For he would be thinking of love + Till the stars had run away, + And the shadows eaten the moon; + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + One cannot begin it too soon. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY + + LAEGAIRE LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + CONALL CONALL'S WIFE + CUCHULAIN LAEG, _Cuchulain's chariot-driver_ + EMER RED MAN, _A Spirit_ + + Horse Boys and Scullions, Black Men, etc. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + SCENE: _A house made of logs. There are two windows at the back and + a door which cuts off one of the corners of the room. Through the + door one can see low rocks which make the ground outside higher than + it is within, and beyond the rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the + windows one can see nothing but the sea. There is a great chair at + the opposite side to the door, and in front of it a table with cups + and a flagon of ale. Here and there are stools._ + + _At the Abbey Theatre the house is orange red and the chairs and + tables and flagons black, with a slight purple tinge which is not + clearly distinguishable from the black. The rocks are black with a + few green touches. The sea is green and luminous, and all the + characters except the RED MAN and the Black Men are dressed in + various shades of green, one or two with touches of purple which + look nearly black. The Black Men all wear dark purple and have eared + caps, and at the end their eyes should look green from the reflected + light of the sea. The RED MAN is altogether in red. He is very tall, + and his height increased by horns on the Green Helmet. The effect is + intentionally violent and startling._ + + +LAEGAIRE + + What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an + eye, + A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by; + But that could not be. + +CONALL + + You have dreamed it--there's nothing out there. + I killed them all before daybreak--I hoked them out of their lair; + I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword, + And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard. + +LAEGAIRE + + Does anything stir on the sea? + +CONALL + + Not even a fish or a gull: + I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon's at the full. + + [_A distant shout._] + +LAEGAIRE + + Ah--there--there is someone who calls us. + +CONALL + + But from the landward side, + And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide; + The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise, + But the land will do us no harm. + +LAEGAIRE + + It was like Cuchulain's voice. + +CONALL + + But that's an impossible thing. + +LAEGAIRE + + An impossible thing indeed. + +CONALL + + For he will never come home, he has all that he could need + In that high windy Scotland--good luck in all that he does. + Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows, + And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away, + And take his good name from him between a day and a day. + +LAEGAIRE + + I would he'd come for all that, and make his young wife know + That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go + Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night + Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right; + And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can. + She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man. + +CONALL + + A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin + Comes down through the rocks and hazels. + +LAEGAIRE + + Cry out that he cannot come in. + +CONALL + + He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop + Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up. + +LAEGAIRE + + No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two. + +CONALL + + [_Outside door_] + + Go away, go away, go away. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Outside door_] + + I will go when the night is through + And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart's delight. + +CONALL + + A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night. + +YOUNG MAN + + Who made that law? + +CONALL + + We made it, and who has so good a right? + Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day? + +YOUNG MAN + + Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way. + + [_He pushes past CONALL and goes into house_] + +CONALL + + I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door, + Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor; + And had I been rightly ready there's no man living could do it, + Dip or no dip. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out--if you have your wits, go out, + A stone's throw further on you will find a big house where + Our wives will give you supper, and you'll sleep sounder there, + For it's a luckier house. + +YOUNG MAN + + I'll eat and sleep where I will. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out or I will make you. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Forcing up LAEGAIRE'S arm, passing him and putting his shield on + the wall over the chair_] + + Not till I have drunk my fill. + But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder's up. + Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top, + And the cups-- + +LAEGAIRE + + It is Cuchulain. + +CUCHULAIN + + The cups are dry as a bone. + + [_He sits on chair and drinks_] + +CONALL + + Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone + From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat. + +CUCHULAIN + + If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that + Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face? + +CONALL + + We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace. + +CUCHULAIN + + I am losing patience, Conall--I find you stuffed with pride, + The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide; + You'd put me off with words, but the whole thing's plain enough, + You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love + In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves, + Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves + Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro; + But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no, + I am going too. + +LAEGAIRE + + Better tell it all out to the end; + He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend + The bad luck we were born to. + +CONALL + + I'll lay the whole thing bare. + You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there. + Does anything stir on the sea? + +LAEGAIRE + + Not even a fish or a gull. + +CONALL + + You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full. + We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke + When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak, + With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth, + And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth + He could drink the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I thought he had come from one of you + Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew; + But if he so loved water I have the tale awry. + +CONALL + + You would not be so merry if he were standing by, + For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin + He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been; + And when we had asked what game, he answered, "Why, whip off my head! + Then one of you two stoop down, and I'll whip off his," he said. + "A head for a head," he said, "that is the game that I play." + +CUCHULAIN + + How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away? + +CONALL + + We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit, + But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split, + Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow, + Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so, + And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me. + +LAEGAIRE + + Till he took it up in his hands-- + +CONALL + + And splashed himself into the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I have imagined as good when I've been as deep in the cup. + +LAEGAIRE + + You never did. + +CUCHULAIN + + And believed it. + +CONALL + + Cuchulain, when will you stop + Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two, + And crying out to the world whatever we say or do, + That you've said or done a better?--Nor is it a drunkard's tale, + Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale, + And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock, + Swore we should keep it secret. + +LAEGAIRE + + But twelve months upon the clock. + +CONALL + + A twelvemonth from the first time. + +LAEGAIRE + + And the jug full up to the brim: + For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him. + +CONALL + + We stood as we're standing now. + +LAEGAIRE + + The horns were as empty. + +CONALL + + When + He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again. + +CUCHULAIN + + Why, this is a tale worth telling. + +CONALL + + And he called for his debt and his right, + And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night + If we did not pay him his debt. + +LAEGAIRE + + What is there to be said + When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head? + +CONALL + + If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us. + +LAEGAIRE + + He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house + And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day. + +CONALL + + He would have followed after if we had run away. + +LAEGAIRE + + Will he tell every mother's son that we have broken our word? + +CUCHULAIN + + Whether he does or does not we'll drive him out with the sword, + And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff. + +CONALL + + How can you fight with a head that laughs when you've whipped it off? + +LAEGAIRE + + Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand? + +CONALL + + He is coming now, there's a splash and a rumble along the strand + As when he came last. + +CUCHULAIN + + Come, and put all your backs to the door. + + [_A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked man stands upon the threshold + against the misty green of the sea; the ground, higher without than + within the house, makes him seem taller even than he is. He leans + upon a great two-handed sword_] + +LAEGAIRE + + It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more + And laughs like the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old herring--You whip off heads! Why, then + Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again. + Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say, + Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away; + Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort, + Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport + Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest + A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west. + But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say! + If there's no sword can harm you, I've an older trick to play, + An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place; + I am Sualtim's son Cuchulain--what, do you laugh in my face? + +RED MAN + + So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll! + A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler's feat, that is all, + To make the time go quickly--for I am the drinker's friend, + The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world's end, + The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift: + I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift, + + [_He lays his Helmet on the ground_] + + And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best. + O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest. + Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup. + There, I'm forgiven now-- + + [_Then in a more solemn voice as he goes out_] + + Let the bravest take it up. + + [_CONALL takes up Helmet and gazes at it with delight_] + + LAEGAIRE + + [_Singing, with a swaggering stride_] + + Laegaire is best; + Between water and hill, + He fought in the west + With cat heads, until + At the break of day + All fell by his sword, + And he carried away + Their hidden hoard. + + [_He seizes the Helmet_] + +CONALL + + Give it me, for what did you find in the bag + But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag + You'd taken for good money? + +CUCHULAIN + + No, no, but give it me. + + [_He takes Helmet_] + +CONALL + + The Helmet's mine or Laegaire's--you're the youngest of us three. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Filling Helmet with ale_] + + I did not take it to keep it--the Red Man gave it for one, + But I shall give it to all--to all of us three or to none; + That is as you look upon it--we will pass it to and fro, + And time and time about, drink out of it and so + Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives. + Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives, + And I drink to Emer, my wife. + + [_A great noise without and shouting_] + + Why, what in God's name is that noise? + +CONALL + + What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys + Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own, + That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they'll keep it up till the dawn, + And there's not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night, + Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight. + + [_A noise of horns without_] + + There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each + They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other's speech + For fear the truth may prevail.--Here's your good health and long life, + And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife. + + [_The charioteers, Stable Boys and Kitchen Boys come running in. + They carry great horns, ladles and the like_] + +LAEG + + I am Laeg, Cuchulain's driver, and my master's cock of the yard. + +ANOTHER + + Conall would scatter his feathers. + + [_Confused murmurs_] + +LAEGAIRE + + [_To_ CUCHULAIN] + + No use, they won't hear a word. + +CONALL + + They'll keep it up till the dawn. + +ANOTHER + + It is Laegaire that is the best, + For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest + And drained his ale pot. + +ANOTHER + + Laegaire--what does a man of his sort + Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport. + +ANOTHER + + It was all mere luck at the best. + +ANOTHER + + But Conall, I say-- + +ANOTHER + + Let me speak. + +LAEG + + You'd be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak. + +ANOTHER + + Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight. + +LAEG + + Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite, + For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began. + +ANOTHER + + Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Who was it started this quarrel? + +A STABLE BOY + + It was Laeg. + +ANOTHER + + It was Laeg done it all. + +LAEG + + A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall, + Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind, + And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind, + That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth. + So I cried your name through the hall, + + [_The others cry out and blow horns, partly drowning the rest of his + speech_] + + but they denied its worth, + Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice; + But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise + Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face, + And as neither side would give in--we would settle it in this place. + Let the Helmet be taken from Conall. + +A STABLE BOY + + No, Conall is the best man here. + +ANOTHER + + Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear. + +CUCHULAIN + + It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease, + We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace. + I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now, + + [_CONALL gives Helmet to LAEGAIRE_] + + That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know + That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight. + +A SERVANT + + That's well--I will stop my shouting. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain is in the right; + I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + By drinking the first he took + The whole of the honours himself. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain and Conall have drunk. + +ANOTHER + + He is lost if he taste a drop. + +LAEGAIRE + + [_Laying Helmet on table_] + + Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup? + +CUCHULAIN + + [_His words are partly drowned by the murmurs of the crowd though he + speaks very loud_] + + That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is + Who has set us all by the ears--he brought the Helmet for this, + And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout + That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out. + + [_The murmur grows less so that his words are heard_] + + Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight? + So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night, + Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn. + +A SERVANT + + Cuchulain is in the right--I am tired of this big horn. + +CUCHULAIN + + Go! + + [_The Servants turn toward the door but stop on hearing the voices + of Women outside_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + Mine is the better to look at. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + But mine is better born. + +EMER + + [_Without_] + + My man is the pithier man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old hurricane, well done! + You've set our wives to the game that they may egg us on; + We are to kill each other that you may sport with us. + Ah, now, they've begun to wrestle as to who'll be first at the house. + + [_The Women come to the door struggling_] + +EMER + + No, I have the right of place for I married the better man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Pulling Emer back_] + + My nails in your neck and shoulder. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + And go before me if you can. + My husband fought in the West. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Kneeling in the door so as to keep the others out who pull at + her_] + + But what did he fight with there + But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air? + And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf? + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself, + Drowning his terror. + +EMER + + [_Forcing herself in front_] + + I am Emer, it is I go first through the door. + No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before + My man has been praised. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Spreading his arms across the door so as to close it_] + + Come, put an end to their quarrelling: + One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king. + Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor + That they come in together, each one at her own door. + + [_LAEGAIRE and CONALL begin to break out the bottoms of the windows, + then their wives go to the windows, each to the window where her + husband is. EMER stands at the door and sings while the boards are + being broken out_] + +EMER + + Nothing that he has done, + His mind that is fire, + His body that is sun, + Have set my head higher + Than all the world's wives. + Himself on the wind + Is the gift that he gives, + Therefore womenkind, + When their eyes have met mine, + Grow cold and grow hot, + Troubled as with wine + By a secret thought, + Preyed upon, fed upon + By jealousy and desire. + I am moon to that sun, + I am steel to that fire, + + [_The windows are now broken down to floor. CUCHULAIN takes his + spear from the door, and the three Women come in at the same + moment_] + +EMER + + Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake: + I will sing till I've stiffened your lip against every knave that would + take + A share of your honour. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + You lie, for your man would take from my man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_To LAEGAIRE'S WIFE_] + + You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Taking up Helmet from table_] + + Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack, + The very straws may wrangle till they've thrown down the stack; + The very door-posts bicker till they've pulled in the door, + The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor, + But this shall help no further. + + [_He throws Helmet into the sea_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + It was not for your head, + And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + But you shall answer for it, for you've robbed my man by this. + +CONALL + + You have robbed us both, Cuchulain. + +LAEGAIRE + + The greatest wrong there is + On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day. + +EMER + + [_Drawing her dagger_] + + Who is for Cuchulain? + +CUCHULAIN + + Silence! + +EMER + + Who is for Cuchulain, I say? + + [_She sings the same words as before, flourishing her dagger about. + While she is singing, CONALL'S WIFE and LAEGAIRE'S WIFE draw their + daggers and run at her, but CUCHULAIN forces them back. LAEGAIRE and + CONALL draw their swords to strike CUCHULAIN_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Crying out so as to be heard through EMER'S singing_] + + Deafen her singing with horns! + +CONALL'S WIFE + + Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise! + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice! + + [_The Horse Boys and Scullions blow their horns or fight among + themselves. There is a deafening noise and a confused fight. + Suddenly three black hands come through the windows and put out the + torches. It is now pitch dark, but for a faint light outside the + house which merely shows that there are moving forms, but not who or + what they are, and in the darkness one can hear low terrified + voices_] + +A VOICE + + Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air. + + [_A light gradually comes into the house from the sea, on which the + moon begins to show once more. There is no light within the house, + and the great beams of the walls are dark and full of shadows, and + the persons of the play dark too against the light. The RED MAN is + seen standing in the midst of the house. The black cat-headed Men + crouch and stand about the door. One carries the Helmet, one the + great sword_] + +RED MAN + + I demand the debt that's owing. Let some man kneel down there + That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack. + +CUCHULAIN + + He played and paid with his head and it's right that we pay him back, + And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: + So I will give him my head. + + [_EMER begins to keen_] + + Little wife, little wife, be at rest. + Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun, + And been no faithful man; but when my story is done + My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all. + +EMER + + [_Putting her arms about him_] + + It is you, not your fame, that I love. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Tries to put her from him_] + + You are young, you are wise, you can call + Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house. + +EMER + + Live and be faithless still. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Throwing her from him_] + + Would you stay the great barnacle-goose + When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air? + +EMER + + [_Lifting her dagger to stab herself_] + + I, too, on the grey wing's path. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Seizing dagger_] + + Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare? + Bear children and sweep the house. + + [_Forcing his way through the Servants who gather round_] + + Wail, but keep from the road. + + [_He kneels before RED MAN. There is a pause_] + + Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed. + + [_A black cat-headed Man holds out the Helmet. The RED MAN takes it_] + +RED MAN + + I have not come for your hurt, I'm the Rector of this land, + And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band, + Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship + The man who hits my fancy. + + [_He places the Helmet on CUCHULAIN'S head_] + + And I choose the laughing lip + That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall, + The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all; + The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler's throw; + And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know, + When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong, + And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song. + + + [Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Helmet and Other Poems, by +William Butler Yeats + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + +***** This file should be named 30488.txt or 30488.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/8/30488/ + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Green Helmet and Other Poems + +Author: William Butler Yeats + +Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30488] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + + + + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:539px; height:800px" + src="images/img02.jpg" + alt="Cover." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h4>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h4> +<h4>OTHER POEMS</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + + +<h2>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h2> +<h2>OTHER POEMS</h2> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS</h3> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> +<h4>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h4> +<h5>LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="sc">Ltd.</span></h5> +<h5>1912</h5> + +<h6><i>All rights reserved</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<h6>Copyright, 1911, by<br /> +<span class="sc">William Butler Yeats</span></h6> + +<h6>Copyright, 1912, by<br /> +<span class="sc">The Macmillan Co.</span></h6> + +<h6><i>Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h3> +<h3>OTHER POEMS</h3> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<div class="pd05"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>1</span></p> +<h3>HIS DREAM</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I swayed upon the gaudy stern</p> +<p>The butt end of a steering oar,</p> +<p>And everywhere that I could turn</p> +<p>Men ran upon the shore.</p> + +<p class="s">And though I would have hushed the crowd</p> +<p>There was no mother’s son but said,</p> +<p>“What is the figure in a shroud</p> +<p>Upon a gaudy bed?”</p> + +<p class="s">And fishes bubbling to the brim</p> +<p>Cried out upon that thing beneath,</p> +<p>It had such dignity of limb,</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2"></a>2</span></p> + +<p class="s">Though I’d my finger on my lip,</p> +<p>What could I but take up the song?</p> +<p>And fish and crowd and gaudy ship</p> +<p>Cried out the whole night long,</p> + +<p class="s">Crying amid the glittering sea,</p> +<p>Naming it with ecstatic breath,</p> +<p>Because it had such dignity</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"></a>3</span></p> + +<h3>A WOMAN HOMER SUNG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>If any man drew near</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>I thought, “He holds her dear,”</p> +<p>And shook with hate and fear.</p> +<p>But oh, ’twas bitter wrong</p> +<p>If he could pass her by</p> +<p>With an indifferent eye.</p> + +<p class="s">Whereon I wrote and wrought,</p> +<p>And now, being gray,</p> +<p>I dream that I have brought</p> +<p>To such a pitch my thought</p> +<p>That coming time can say,</p> +<p>“He shadowed in a glass</p> +<p>What thing her body was.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>4</span></p> + +<p class="s">For she had fiery blood</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>And trod so sweetly proud</p> +<p>As ’twere upon a cloud,</p> +<p>A woman Homer sung,</p> +<p>That life and letters seem</p> +<p>But an heroic dream.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>5</span></p> + +<h3>THAT THE NIGHT COME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>She lived in storm and strife.</p> +<p>Her soul had such desire</p> +<p>For what proud death may bring</p> +<p>That it could not endure</p> +<p>The common good of life,</p> +<p>But lived as ’twere a king</p> +<p>That packed his marriage day</p> +<p>With banneret and pennon,</p> +<p>Trumpet and kettledrum,</p> +<p>And the outrageous cannon,</p> +<p>To bundle Time away</p> +<p>That the night come.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>6</span></p> + +<h3>THE CONSOLATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I had this thought awhile ago,</p> +<p>“My darling cannot understand</p> +<p>What I have done, or what would do</p> +<p>In this blind bitter land.”</p> + +<p class="s">And I grew weary of the sun</p> +<p>Until my thoughts cleared up again,</p> +<p>Remembering that the best I have done</p> +<p>Was done to make it plain;</p> + +<p class="s">That every year I have cried, “At length</p> +<p>My darling understands it all,</p> +<p>Because I have come into my strength,</p> +<p>And words obey my call.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>7</span></p> + +<p class="s">That had she done so who can say</p> +<p>What would have shaken from the sieve?</p> +<p>I might have thrown poor words away</p> +<p>And been content to live.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"></a>8</span></p> + +<h3>FRIENDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Now must I these three praise—</p> +<p>Three women that have wrought</p> +<p>What joy is in my days;</p> +<p>One that no passing thought,</p> +<p>Nor those unpassing cares,</p> +<p>No, not in these fifteen</p> +<p>Many times troubled years,</p> +<p>Could ever come between</p> +<p>Heart and delighted heart;</p> +<p>And one because her hand</p> +<p>Had strength that could unbind</p> +<p>What none can understand,</p> +<p>What none can have and thrive,</p> +<p>Youth’s dreamy load, till she</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>9</span></p> +<p>So changed me that I live</p> +<p>Labouring in ecstasy.</p> +<p>And what of her that took</p> +<p>All till my youth was gone</p> +<p>With scarce a pitying look?</p> +<p>How should I praise that one?</p> +<p>When day begins to break</p> +<p>I count my good and bad,</p> +<p>Being wakeful for her sake,</p> +<p>Remembering what she had,</p> +<p>What eagle look still shows,</p> +<p>While up from my heart’s root</p> +<p>So great a sweetness flows</p> +<p>I shake from head to foot.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>10</span></p> + +<h3>NO SECOND TROY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Why should I blame her that she filled my days</p> +<p>With misery, or that she would of late</p> +<p>Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,</p> +<p>Or hurled the little streets upon the great,</p> +<p>Had they but courage equal to desire?</p> +<p>What could have made her peaceful with a mind</p> +<p>That nobleness made simple as a fire,</p> +<p>With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind</p> +<p>That is not natural in an age like this,</p> +<p>Being high and solitary and most stern?</p> +<p>Why, what could she have done being what she is?</p> +<p>Was there another Troy for her to burn?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>11</span></p> + +<h3>RECONCILIATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Some may have blamed you that you took away</p> +<p>The verses that could move them on the day</p> +<p>When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind</p> +<p>With lightning you went from me, and I could find</p> +<p>Nothing to make a song about but kings,</p> +<p>Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things</p> +<p>That were like memories of you—but now</p> +<p>We’ll out, for the world lives as long ago;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>12</span></p> +<p>And while we’re in our laughing, weeping fit,</p> +<p>Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit.</p> +<p>But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone,</p> +<p>My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>13</span></p> + +<h3>KING AND NO KING</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Would it were anything but merely voice!”</p> +<p>The No King cried who after that was King,</p> +<p>Because he had not heard of anything</p> +<p>That balanced with a word is more than noise;</p> +<p>Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail</p> +<p>Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot,</p> +<p>Though he’d but cannon—Whereas we that had thought</p> +<p>To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>14</span></p> +<p>Have been defeated by that pledge you gave</p> +<p>In momentary anger long ago;</p> +<p>And I that have not your faith, how shall I know</p> +<p>That in the blinding light beyond the grave</p> +<p>We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost?</p> +<p>The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,</p> +<p>The habitual content of each with each</p> +<p>When neither soul nor body has been crossed.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>15</span></p> + +<h3>THE COLD HEAVEN</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven</p> +<p>That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,</p> +<p>And thereupon imagination and heart were driven</p> +<p>So wild, that every casual thought of that and this</p> +<p>Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season</p> +<p>With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;</p> +<p>And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>16</span></p> +<p>Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,</p> +<p>Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,</p> +<p>Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent</p> +<p>Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken</p> +<p>By the injustice of the skies for punishment?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>17</span></p> + +<h3>PEACE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Ah, that Time could touch a form</p> +<p>That could show what Homer’s age</p> +<p>Bred to be a hero’s wage.</p> +<p>“Were not all her life but storm,</p> +<p>Would not painters paint a form</p> +<p>Of such noble lines” I said.</p> +<p>“Such a delicate high head,</p> +<p>So much sternness and such charm,</p> +<p>Till they had changed us to like strength?”</p> +<p>Ah, but peace that comes at length,</p> +<p>Came when Time had touched her form.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>18</span></p> + +<h3>AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>O heart, be at peace, because</p> +<p>Nor knave nor dolt can break</p> +<p>What’s not for their applause,</p> +<p>Being for a woman’s sake.</p> +<p>Enough if the work has seemed,</p> +<p>So did she your strength renew,</p> +<p>A dream that a lion had dreamed</p> +<p>Till the wilderness cried aloud,</p> +<p>A secret between you two,</p> +<p>Between the proud and the proud.</p> + +<p class="s">What, still you would have their praise!</p> +<p>But here’s a haughtier text,</p> +<p>The labyrinth of her days</p> +<p>That her own strangeness perplexed;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"></a>19</span></p> +<p>And how what her dreaming gave</p> +<p>Earned slander, ingratitude,</p> +<p>From self-same dolt and knave;</p> +<p>Aye, and worse wrong than these.</p> +<p>Yet she, singing upon her road,</p> +<p>Half lion, half child, is at peace.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"></a>20</span></p> + +<h3>THE FASCINATION OF WHAT’S +DIFFICULT</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>The fascination of what’s difficult</p> +<p>Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent</p> +<p>Spontaneous joy and natural content</p> +<p>Out of my heart. There’s something ails our colt</p> +<p>That must, as if it had not holy blood,</p> +<p>Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,</p> +<p>Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt</p> +<p>As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays</p> +<p>That have to be set up in fifty ways,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>21</span></p> +<p>On the day’s war with every knave and dolt,</p> +<p>Theatre business, management of men.</p> +<p>I swear before the dawn comes round again</p> +<p>I’ll find the stable and pull out the bolt.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>22</span></p> + +<h3>A DRINKING SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Wine comes in at the mouth</p> +<p>And love comes in at the eye;</p> +<p>That’s all we shall know for truth</p> +<p>Before we grow old and die.</p> +<p>I lift the glass to my mouth,</p> +<p>I look at you, and I sigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>23</span></p> + +<h3>THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH +TIME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Though leaves are many, the root is one;</p> +<p>Through all the lying days of my youth</p> +<p>I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;</p> +<p>Now I may wither into the truth.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>24</span></p> + +<h3>ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS +OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY +HAVE JOINED THE ANCIENT +ORDER OF HIBERNIANS +AND THE AGITATION AGAINST +IMMORAL LITERATURE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,</p> +<p>That long to give themselves for wage,</p> +<p>To shake their wicked sides at youth</p> +<p>Restraining reckless middle-age.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>25</span></p> + +<h3>TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME +PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, +IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>You say, as I have often given tongue</p> +<p>In praise of what another’s said or sung,</p> +<p>’Twere politic to do the like by these;</p> +<p>But where’s the wild dog that has praised his fleas?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>26</span></p> + +<h3>THE ATTACK ON THE +“PLAY BOY”</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Once, when midnight smote the air,</p> +<p>Eunuchs ran through Hell and met</p> +<p>Round about Hell’s gate, to stare</p> +<p>At great Juan riding by,</p> +<p>And like these to rail and sweat,</p> +<p>Maddened by that sinewy thigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>27</span></p> + +<h3>A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED +PLAY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Put off that mask of burning gold</p> +<p>With emerald eyes.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, you make so bold</p> +<p>To find if hearts be wild and wise,</p> +<p>And yet not cold.”</p> + +<p class="s">“I would but find what’s there to find,</p> +<p>Love or deceit.”</p> +<p>“It was the mask engaged your mind,</p> +<p>And after set your heart to beat,</p> +<p>Not what’s behind.”</p> + +<p class="s">“But lest you are my enemy,</p> +<p>I must enquire.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, let all that be,</p> +<p>What matter, so there is but fire</p> +<p>In you, in me?”</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"></a>28</span></p> + +<h3>UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY +THE LAND AGITATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>How should the world be luckier if this house,</p> +<p>Where passion and precision have been one</p> +<p>Time out of mind, became too ruinous</p> +<p>To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun?</p> +<p>And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow</p> +<p>Where wings have memory of wings, and all</p> +<p>That comes of the best knit to the best? Although</p> +<p>Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>29</span></p> +<p>How should their luck run high enough to reach</p> +<p>The gifts that govern men, and after these</p> +<p>To gradual Time’s last gift, a written speech</p> +<p>Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>30</span></p> + +<h3>AT THE ABBEY THEATRE</h3> + +<h5><i>Imitated from Ronsard</i></h5> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case.</p> +<p>When we are high and airy hundreds say</p> +<p>That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,</p> +<p>While those same hundreds mock another day</p> +<p>Because we have made our art of common things,</p> +<p>So bitterly, you’d dream they longed to look</p> +<p>All their lives through into some drift of wings.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>31</span></p> +<p>You’ve dandled them and fed them from the book</p> +<p>And know them to the bone; impart to us—</p> +<p>We’ll keep the secret—a new trick to please.</p> +<p>Is there a bridle for this Proteus</p> +<p>That turns and changes like his draughty seas?</p> +<p>Or is there none, most popular of men,</p> +<p>But when they mock us that we mock again?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>32</span></p> + +<h3>THESE ARE THE CLOUDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye;</p> +<p>The weak lay hand on what the strong has done,</p> +<p>Till that be tumbled that was lifted high</p> +<p>And discord follow upon unison,</p> +<p>And all things at one common level lie.</p> +<p>And therefore, friend, if your great race were run</p> +<p>And these things came, so much the more thereby</p> +<p>Have you made greatness your companion,</p> +<p>Although it be for children that you sigh:</p> +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>33</span></p> + +<h3>AT GALWAY RACES</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Out yonder, where the race course is,</p> +<p>Delight makes all of the one mind,</p> +<p>Riders upon the swift horses,</p> +<p>The field that closes in behind:</p> +<p>We, too, had good attendance once,</p> +<p>Hearers and hearteners of the work;</p> +<p>Aye, horsemen for companions,</p> +<p>Before the merchant and the clerk</p> +<p>Breathed on the world with timid breath.</p> +<p>Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon,</p> +<p>We’ll learn that sleeping is not death,</p> +<p>Hearing the whole earth change its tune,</p> +<p>Its flesh being wild, and it again</p> +<p>Crying aloud as the race course is,</p> +<p>And we find hearteners among men</p> +<p>That ride upon horses.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>34</span></p> + +<h3>A FRIEND’S ILLNESS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Sickness brought me this</p> +<p>Thought, in that scale of his:</p> +<p>Why should I be dismayed</p> +<p>Though flame had burned the whole</p> +<p>World, as it were a coal,</p> +<p>Now I have seen it weighed</p> +<p>Against a soul?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>35</span></p> + +<h3>ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:</p> +<p>One time it was a woman’s face, or worse—</p> +<p>The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;</p> +<p>Now nothing but comes readier to the hand</p> +<p>Than this accustomed toil. When I was young,</p> +<p>I had not given a penny for a song</p> +<p>Did not the poet sing it with such airs</p> +<p>That one believed he had a sword upstairs;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>36</span></p> +<p>Yet would be now, could I but have my wish,</p> +<p>Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"></a>37</span></p> + +<h3>THE YOUNG MAN’S SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I whispered, “I am too young,”</p> +<p>And then, “I am old enough,”</p> +<p>Wherefore I threw a penny</p> +<p>To find out if I might love;</p> +<p>“Go and love, go and love, young man,</p> +<p>If the lady be young and fair,”</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>I am looped in the loops of her hair.</p> + +<p class="s">Oh love is the crooked thing,</p> +<p>There is nobody wise enough</p> +<p>To find out all that is in it,</p> +<p>For he would be thinking of love</p> +<p>Till the stars had run away,</p> +<p>And the shadows eaten the moon;</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>One cannot begin it too soon.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>38</span></p> + + + + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>39</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>40</span></p> + +<h3>THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY</h3> + +<table class="nobctr" width="70%" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc" style="width: 50%;">Laegaire</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Laegaire’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Conall</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Conall’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Cuchulain</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Laeg</span>, <i>Cuchulain’s chariot-driver</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Emer</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Red Man</span>, <i>A Spirit</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc1" colspan="2">Horse Boys and Scullions, +Black Men, etc.</td></tr> +</table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>41</span></p> + +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="art" /> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Scene</span>: <i>A house made of logs. There +are two windows at the back and a door +which cuts off one of the corners of the +room. Through the door one can see low +rocks which make the ground outside +higher than it is within, and beyond the +rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the +windows one can see nothing but the sea. +There is a great chair at the opposite +side to the door, and in front of it a table +with cups and a flagon of ale. Here and +there are stools.</i></p> + +<p style="text-indent: 1em;"><i>At the Abbey Theatre the house is +orange red and the chairs and tables and +flagons black, with a slight purple tinge +which is not clearly distinguishable from +the black. The rocks are black with a +few green touches. The sea is green and +luminous, and all the characters except</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>42</span> +<i>the <span class="sc">Red Man</span> and the Black Men are +dressed in various shades of green, one +or two with touches of purple which look +nearly black. The Black Men all wear +dark purple and have eared caps, and at +the end their eyes should look green from +the reflected light of the sea. The <span class="sc">Red +Man</span> is altogether in red. He is very tall, +and his height increased by horns on the +Green Helmet. The effect is intentionally +violent and startling.</i></p> + +<div class="play"> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an eye,</p> +<p>A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by;</p> +<p>But that could not be.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">You have dreamed it—there’s nothing out there.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>43</span></p> +<p>I killed them all before daybreak—I hoked them out of their lair;</p> +<p>I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword,</p> +<p>And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Not even a fish or a gull:</p> +<p>I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon’s at the full.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A distant shout.</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Ah—there—there is someone who calls us.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>44</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But from the landward side,</p> +<p>And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide;</p> +<p>The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise,</p> +<p>But the land will do us no harm.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was like Cuchulain’s voice.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>But that’s an impossible thing.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">An impossible thing indeed.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>For he will never come home, he has all that he could need</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"></a>45</span></p> +<p>In that high windy Scotland—good luck in all that he does.</p> +<p>Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows,</p> +<p>And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away,</p> +<p>And take his good name from him between a day and a day.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>I would he’d come for all that, and make his young wife know</p> +<p>That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go</p> +<p>Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night</p> +<p>Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"></a>46</span></p> +<p>And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can.</p> +<p>She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin</p> +<p>Comes down through the rocks and hazels.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cry out that he cannot come in.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop</p> +<p>Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"></a>47</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + +<p>Go away, go away, go away.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I will go when the night is through</p> +<p>And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart’s delight.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Who made that law?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>48</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We made it, and who has so good a right?</p> +<p>Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day?</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He pushes past <span class="sc">Conall</span> and goes +into house</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door,</p> +<p>Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor;</p> +<p>And had I been rightly ready there’s no man living could do it,</p> +<p>Dip or no dip.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"></a>49</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Go out—if you have your wits, go out,</p> +<p>A stone’s throw further on you will find a big house where</p> +<p>Our wives will give you supper, and you’ll sleep sounder there,</p> +<p>For it’s a luckier house.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">I’ll eat and sleep where I will.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Go out or I will make you.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing up <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> arm, passing +him and putting his shield on the wall +over the chair</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Not till I have drunk my fill.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>50</span></p> +<p>But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder’s up.</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top,</p> +<p>And the cups—</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p>It is Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p>The cups are dry as a bone.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He sits on chair and drinks</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone</p> +<p>From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>51</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I am losing patience, Conall—I find you stuffed with pride,</p> +<p>The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide;</p> +<p>You’d put me off with words, but the whole thing’s plain enough,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>52</span></p> +<p>You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love</p> +<p>In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves,</p> +<p>Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves</p> +<p>Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro;</p> +<p>But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no,</p> +<p>I am going too.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Better tell it all out to the end;</p> +<p>He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend</p> +<p>The bad luck we were born to.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>53</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">I’ll lay the whole thing bare.</p> +<p>You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there.</p> +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Not even a fish or a gull.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full.</p> +<p>We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke</p> +<p>When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak,</p> +<p>With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>54</span></p> +<p>And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth</p> +<p>He could drink the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I thought he had come from one of you</p> +<p>Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew;</p> +<p>But if he so loved water I have the tale awry.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You would not be so merry if he were standing by,</p> +<p>For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin</p> +<p>He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>55</span></p> +<p>And when we had asked what game, he answered, “Why, whip off my head!</p> +<p>Then one of you two stoop down, and I’ll whip off his,” he said.</p> +<p>“A head for a head,” he said, “that is the game that I play.”</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit,</p> +<p>But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split,</p> +<p>Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>56</span></p> +<p>Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so,</p> +<p>And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Till he took it up in his hands—</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And splashed himself into the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I have imagined as good when I’ve been as deep in the cup.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>You never did.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">And believed it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>57</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain, when will you stop</p> +<p>Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two,</p> +<p>And crying out to the world whatever we say or do,</p> +<p>That you’ve said or done a better?—Nor is it a drunkard’s tale,</p> +<p>Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale,</p> +<p>And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock,</p> +<p>Swore we should keep it secret.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">But twelve months upon the clock.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A twelvemonth from the first time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>58</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And the jug full up to the brim:</p> +<p>For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We stood as we’re standing now.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">The horns were as empty.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 8em;">When</p> +<p>He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Why, this is a tale worth telling.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>59</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>And he called for his debt and his right,</p> +<p>And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night</p> +<p>If we did not pay him his debt.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">What is there to be said</p> +<p>When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house</p> +<p>And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>60</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He would have followed after if we had run away.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Will he tell every mother’s son that we have broken our word?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Whether he does or does not we’ll drive him out with the sword,</p> +<p>And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>How can you fight with a head that laughs when you’ve whipped it off?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>61</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He is coming now, there’s a splash and a rumble along the strand</p> +<p>As when he came last.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Come, and put all your backs to the door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked +man stands upon the threshold +against the misty green of the +sea; the ground, higher without +than within the house, makes him +seem taller even than he is. He +leans upon a great two-handed +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more</p> +<p>And laughs like the sea.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>62</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Old herring—You whip off heads! Why, then</p> +<p>Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again.</p> +<p>Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say,</p> +<p>Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away;</p> +<p>Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort,</p> +<p>Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport</p> +<p>Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest</p> +<p>A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>63</span></p> +<p>But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say!</p> +<p>If there’s no sword can harm you, I’ve an older trick to play,</p> +<p>An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place;</p> +<p>I am Sualtim’s son Cuchulain—what, do you laugh in my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll!</p> +<p>A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler’s feat, that is all,</p> +<p>To make the time go quickly—for I am the drinker’s friend,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>64</span></p> +<p>The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world’s end,</p> +<p>The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift:</p> +<p>I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He lays his Helmet on the ground</i>]</p> + +<p>And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best.</p> +<p>O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest.</p> +<p>Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup.</p> +<p>There, I’m forgiven now—</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Then in a more solemn voice as he +goes out</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Let the bravest take it up.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> takes up Helmet and gazes +at it with delight</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>65</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Singing, with a swaggering stride</i>]</p> + +<p>Laegaire is best;</p> +<p>Between water and hill,</p> +<p>He fought in the west</p> +<p>With cat heads, until</p> +<p>At the break of day</p> +<p>All fell by his sword,</p> +<p>And he carried away</p> +<p>Their hidden hoard.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He seizes the Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Give it me, for what did you find in the bag</p> +<p>But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag</p> +<p>You’d taken for good money?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>66</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">No, no, but give it me.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He takes Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>The Helmet’s mine or Laegaire’s—you’re the youngest of us three.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Filling Helmet with ale</i>]</p> + +<p>I did not take it to keep it—the Red Man gave it for one,</p> +<p>But I shall give it to all—to all of us three or to none;</p> +<p>That is as you look upon it—we will pass it to and fro,</p> +<p>And time and time about, drink out of it and so</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>67</span></p> +<p>Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives.</p> +<p>Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives,</p> +<p>And I drink to Emer, my wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A great noise without and shouting</i>]</p> + +<p>Why, what in God’s name is that noise?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys</p> +<p>Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own,</p> +<p>That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they’ll keep it up till the dawn,</p> +<p>And there’s not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>68</span></p> +<p>Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A noise of horns without</i>]</p> + +<p>There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each</p> +<p>They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other’s speech</p> +<p>For fear the truth may prevail.—Here’s your good health and long life,</p> +<p>And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Charioteers, Stable Boys and +Kitchen Boys come running in. +They carry great horns, ladles +and the like</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>I am Laeg, Cuchulain’s driver, and my master’s cock of the yard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>69</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall would scatter his feathers.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Confused murmurs</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No use, they won’t hear a word.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>They’ll keep it up till the dawn.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">It is Laegaire that is the best,</p> +<p>For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest</p> +<p>And drained his ale pot.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Laegaire—what does a man of his sort</p> +<p>Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>70</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>It was all mere luck at the best.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But Conall, I say—</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Let me speak.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>You’d be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite,</p> +<p>For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>71</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Who was it started this quarrel?</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">It was Laeg.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was Laeg done it all.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall,</p> +<p>Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind,</p> +<p>And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>72</span></p> +<p>That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth.</p> +<p>So I cried your name through the hall,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The others cry out and blow horns, +partly drowning the rest of his +speech</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">but they denied its worth,</p> +<p>Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice;</p> +<p>But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise</p> +<p>Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face,</p> +<p>And as neither side would give in—we would settle it in this place.</p> +<p>Let the Helmet be taken from Conall.</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No, Conall is the best man here.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>73</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease,</p> +<p>We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace.</p> +<p>I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> gives Helmet to <span class="sc">Laegaire</span></i>]</p> + +<p>That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know</p> +<p>That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>That’s well—I will stop my shouting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"></a>74</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain is in the right;</p> +<p>I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">By drinking the first he took</p> +<p>The whole of the honours himself.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>75</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Cuchulain and Conall have drunk.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">He is lost if he taste a drop.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Laying Helmet on table</i>]</p> + +<p>Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>His words are partly drowned by +the murmurs of the crowd though +he speaks very loud</i>]</p> + +<p>That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is</p> +<p>Who has set us all by the ears—he brought the Helmet for this,</p> +<p>And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>76</span></p> +<p>That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The murmur grows less so that + his words are heard</i>]</p> + +<p>Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight?</p> +<p>So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night,</p> +<p>Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>Cuchulain is in the right—I am tired of this big horn.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Go!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Servants turn toward the +door but stop on hearing the +voices of Women outside</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"></a>77</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Mine is the better to look at.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But mine is better born.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + +<p>My man is the pithier man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Old hurricane, well done!</p> +<p>You’ve set our wives to the game that they may egg us on;</p> +<p>We are to kill each other that you may sport with us.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>78</span></p> +<p>Ah, now, they’ve begun to wrestle as to who’ll be first at the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Women come to the door +struggling</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>No, I have the right of place for I married the better man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Pulling <span class="sc">Emer</span> back</i>]</p> + +<p>My nails in your neck and shoulder.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And go before me if you can.</p> +<p>My husband fought in the West.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Kneeling in the door so as to keep +the others out who pull at her</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">But what did he fight with there</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>79</span></p> +<p>But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air?</p> +<p>And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself,</p> +<p>Drowning his terror.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing herself in front</i>]</p> + +<p>I am Emer, it is I go first through the door.</p> +<p>No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before</p> +<p>My man has been praised.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"></a>80</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Spreading his arms across the door +so as to close it</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Come, put an end to their quarrelling:</p> +<p>One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king.</p> +<p>Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor</p> +<p>That they come in together, each one at her own door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> begin to +break out the bottoms of the windows, +then their wives go to the +windows, each to the window +where her husband is. <span class="sc">Emer</span> +stands at the door and sings +while the boards are being broken +out</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Nothing that he has done,</p> +<p>His mind that is fire,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>81</span></p> +<p>His body that is sun,</p> +<p>Have set my head higher</p> +<p>Than all the world’s wives.</p> +<p>Himself on the wind</p> +<p>Is the gift that he gives,</p> +<p>Therefore womenkind,</p> +<p>When their eyes have met mine,</p> +<p>Grow cold and grow hot,</p> +<p>Troubled as with wine</p> +<p>By a secret thought,</p> +<p>Preyed upon, fed upon</p> +<p>By jealousy and desire.</p> +<p>I am moon to that sun,</p> +<p>I am steel to that fire,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The windows are now broken down +to floor. <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> takes his +spear from the door, and the +three Women come in at the +same moment</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>82</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake:</p> +<p>I will sing till I’ve stiffened your lip against every knave that would take</p> +<p>A share of your honour.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>You lie, for your man would take from my man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Laegaire’s Wife</span></i>]</p> + +<p>You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Taking up Helmet from table</i>]</p> + +<p>Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>83</span></p> +<p>The very straws may wrangle till they’ve thrown down the stack;</p> +<p>The very door-posts bicker till they’ve pulled in the door,</p> +<p>The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor,</p> +<p>But this shall help no further.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He throws Helmet into the sea</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was not for your head,</p> +<p>And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p>But you shall answer for it, for you’ve robbed my man by this.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>84</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You have robbed us both, Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">The greatest wrong there is</p> +<p>On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Drawing her dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Who is for Cuchulain?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Silence!</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Who is for Cuchulain, I say?</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>She sings the same words as before, +flourishing her dagger +about. While she is singing, +<span class="sc">Conall’s Wife</span> and <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>85</span> +<span class="sc">Wife</span> draw their daggers and run +at her, but <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> forces +them back. <span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> +draw their swords to strike <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Crying out so as to be heard +through <span class="sc">Emer’s</span> singing</i>]</p> + +<p>Deafen her singing with horns!</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise!</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Horse Boys and Scullions +blow their horns or fight among +themselves. There is a deafening +noise and a confused fight. Suddenly +three black hands come</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>86</span> +<i>through the windows and put out +the torches. It is now pitch dark, +but for a faint light outside the +house which merely shows that +there are moving forms, but not +who or what they are, and in the +darkness one can hear low terrified +voices</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">A Voice</p> + +<p>Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A light gradually comes into the +house from the sea, on which the +moon begins to show once more.</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>87</span> +<i>There is no light within the +house, and the great beams of +the walls are dark and full of +shadows, and the persons of the +play dark too against the light. +The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> is seen standing in +the midst of the house. The +black cat-headed Men crouch and +stand about the door. One carries +the Helmet, one the great +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I demand the debt that’s owing. Let some man kneel down there</p> +<p>That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>He played and paid with his head and it’s right that we pay him back,</p> +<p>And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>88</span></p> +<p>So I will give him my head.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Emer</span> begins to keen</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Little wife, little wife, be at rest.</p> +<p>Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun,</p> +<p>And been no faithful man; but when my story is done</p> +<p>My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Putting her arms about him</i>]</p> + +<p>It is you, not your fame, that I love.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Tries to put her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>You are young, you are wise, you can call</p> +<p>Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>89</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Live and be faithless still.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Throwing her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>Would you stay the great barnacle-goose</p> +<p>When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air?</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Lifting her dagger to stab herself</i>]</p> + +<p>I, too, on the grey wing’s path.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Seizing dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare?</p> +<p>Bear children and sweep the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing his way through the Servants +who gather round</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>90</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Wail, but keep from the road.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He kneels before <span class="sc">Red Man</span>. There +is a pause</i>]</p> + +<p>Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A black cat-headed Man holds out +the Helmet. The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> takes +it</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I have not come for your hurt, I’m the Rector of this land,</p> +<p>And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band,</p> +<p>Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship</p> +<p>The man who hits my fancy.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He places the Helmet on <span class="sc">Cuchulain’s</span> +head</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"></a>91</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And I choose the laughing lip</p> +<p>That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall,</p> +<p>The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all;</p> +<p>The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler’s throw;</p> +<p>And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know,</p> +<p>When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong,</p> +<p>And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:200px; height:154px" + src="images/img01.jpg" + alt="Logo." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Helmet and Other Poems, by +William Butler Yeats + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + +***** This file should be named 30488-h.htm or 30488-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/8/30488/ + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Green Helmet and Other Poems + +Author: William Butler Yeats + +Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30488] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + + + + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + BY + + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + + NEW YORK + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1912 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + Copyright, 1911, by + WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS + + Copyright, 1912, by + THE MACMILLAN CO. + + _Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912_ + + + + + THE GREEN HELMET AND + OTHER POEMS + + + + +HIS DREAM + + + I swayed upon the gaudy stern + The butt end of a steering oar, + And everywhere that I could turn + Men ran upon the shore. + + And though I would have hushed the crowd + There was no mother's son but said, + "What is the figure in a shroud + Upon a gaudy bed?" + + And fishes bubbling to the brim + Cried out upon that thing beneath, + It had such dignity of limb, + By the sweet name of Death. + + Though I'd my finger on my lip, + What could I but take up the song? + And fish and crowd and gaudy ship + Cried out the whole night long, + + Crying amid the glittering sea, + Naming it with ecstatic breath, + Because it had such dignity + By the sweet name of Death. + + + + +A WOMAN HOMER SUNG + + + If any man drew near + When I was young, + I thought, "He holds her dear," + And shook with hate and fear. + But oh, 'twas bitter wrong + If he could pass her by + With an indifferent eye. + + Whereon I wrote and wrought, + And now, being gray, + I dream that I have brought + To such a pitch my thought + That coming time can say, + "He shadowed in a glass + What thing her body was." + + For she had fiery blood + When I was young, + And trod so sweetly proud + As 'twere upon a cloud, + A woman Homer sung, + That life and letters seem + But an heroic dream. + + + + +THAT THE NIGHT COME + + + She lived in storm and strife. + Her soul had such desire + For what proud death may bring + That it could not endure + The common good of life, + But lived as 'twere a king + That packed his marriage day + With banneret and pennon, + Trumpet and kettledrum, + And the outrageous cannon, + To bundle Time away + That the night come. + + + + +THE CONSOLATION + + + I had this thought awhile ago, + "My darling cannot understand + What I have done, or what would do + In this blind bitter land." + + And I grew weary of the sun + Until my thoughts cleared up again, + Remembering that the best I have done + Was done to make it plain; + + That every year I have cried, "At length + My darling understands it all, + Because I have come into my strength, + And words obey my call." + + That had she done so who can say + What would have shaken from the sieve? + I might have thrown poor words away + And been content to live. + + + + +FRIENDS + + + Now must I these three praise-- + Three women that have wrought + What joy is in my days; + One that no passing thought, + Nor those unpassing cares, + No, not in these fifteen + Many times troubled years, + Could ever come between + Heart and delighted heart; + And one because her hand + Had strength that could unbind + What none can understand, + What none can have and thrive, + Youth's dreamy load, till she + So changed me that I live + Labouring in ecstasy. + And what of her that took + All till my youth was gone + With scarce a pitying look? + How should I praise that one? + When day begins to break + I count my good and bad, + Being wakeful for her sake, + Remembering what she had, + What eagle look still shows, + While up from my heart's root + So great a sweetness flows + I shake from head to foot. + + + + +NO SECOND TROY + + + Why should I blame her that she filled my days + With misery, or that she would of late + Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, + Or hurled the little streets upon the great, + Had they but courage equal to desire? + What could have made her peaceful with a mind + That nobleness made simple as a fire, + With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind + That is not natural in an age like this, + Being high and solitary and most stern? + Why, what could she have done being what she is? + Was there another Troy for her to burn? + + + + +RECONCILIATION + + + Some may have blamed you that you took away + The verses that could move them on the day + When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind + With lightning you went from me, and I could find + Nothing to make a song about but kings, + Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things + That were like memories of you--but now + We'll out, for the world lives as long ago; + And while we're in our laughing, weeping fit, + Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit. + But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone, + My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone. + + + + +KING AND NO KING + + + "Would it were anything but merely voice!" + The No King cried who after that was King, + Because he had not heard of anything + That balanced with a word is more than noise; + Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail + Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, + Though he'd but cannon--Whereas we that had thought + To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale + Have been defeated by that pledge you gave + In momentary anger long ago; + And I that have not your faith, how shall I know + That in the blinding light beyond the grave + We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost? + The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, + The habitual content of each with each + When neither soul nor body has been crossed. + + + + +THE COLD HEAVEN + + + Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven + That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, + And thereupon imagination and heart were driven + So wild, that every casual thought of that and this + Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season + With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago; + And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason, + Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro, + Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken, + Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent + Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken + By the injustice of the skies for punishment? + + + + +PEACE + + + Ah, that Time could touch a form + That could show what Homer's age + Bred to be a hero's wage. + "Were not all her life but storm, + Would not painters paint a form + Of such noble lines" I said. + "Such a delicate high head, + So much sternness and such charm, + Till they had changed us to like strength?" + Ah, but peace that comes at length, + Came when Time had touched her form. + + + + +AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE + + + O heart, be at peace, because + Nor knave nor dolt can break + What's not for their applause, + Being for a woman's sake. + Enough if the work has seemed, + So did she your strength renew, + A dream that a lion had dreamed + Till the wilderness cried aloud, + A secret between you two, + Between the proud and the proud. + + What, still you would have their praise! + But here's a haughtier text, + The labyrinth of her days + That her own strangeness perplexed; + And how what her dreaming gave + Earned slander, ingratitude, + From self-same dolt and knave; + Aye, and worse wrong than these. + Yet she, singing upon her road, + Half lion, half child, is at peace. + + + + +THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT + + + The fascination of what's difficult + Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent + Spontaneous joy and natural content + Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt + That must, as if it had not holy blood, + Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, + Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt + As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays + That have to be set up in fifty ways, + On the day's war with every knave and dolt, + Theatre business, management of men. + I swear before the dawn comes round again + I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt. + + + + +A DRINKING SONG + + + Wine comes in at the mouth + And love comes in at the eye; + That's all we shall know for truth + Before we grow old and die. + I lift the glass to my mouth, + I look at you, and I sigh. + + + + +THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME + + + Though leaves are many, the root is one; + Through all the lying days of my youth + I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; + Now I may wither into the truth. + + + + +ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE +ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS AND THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE + + + Where, where but here have Pride and Truth, + That long to give themselves for wage, + To shake their wicked sides at youth + Restraining reckless middle-age. + + + + +TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS +AND MINE + + + You say, as I have often given tongue + In praise of what another's said or sung, + 'Twere politic to do the like by these; + But where's the wild dog that has praised his fleas? + + + + +THE ATTACK ON THE "PLAY BOY" + + + Once, when midnight smote the air, + Eunuchs ran through Hell and met + Round about Hell's gate, to stare + At great Juan riding by, + And like these to rail and sweat, + Maddened by that sinewy thigh. + + + + +A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED PLAY + + + "Put off that mask of burning gold + With emerald eyes." + "O no, my dear, you make so bold + To find if hearts be wild and wise, + And yet not cold." + + "I would but find what's there to find, + Love or deceit." + "It was the mask engaged your mind, + And after set your heart to beat, + Not what's behind." + + "But lest you are my enemy, + I must enquire." + "O no, my dear, let all that be, + What matter, so there is but fire + In you, in me?" + + + + +UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY THE LAND AGITATION + + + How should the world be luckier if this house, + Where passion and precision have been one + Time out of mind, became too ruinous + To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun? + And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow + Where wings have memory of wings, and all + That comes of the best knit to the best? Although + Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall, + How should their luck run high enough to reach + The gifts that govern men, and after these + To gradual Time's last gift, a written speech + Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease? + + + + +AT THE ABBEY THEATRE + +_Imitated from Ronsard_ + + + Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case. + When we are high and airy hundreds say + That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place, + While those same hundreds mock another day + Because we have made our art of common things, + So bitterly, you'd dream they longed to look + All their lives through into some drift of wings. + You've dandled them and fed them from the book + And know them to the bone; impart to us-- + We'll keep the secret--a new trick to please. + Is there a bridle for this Proteus + That turns and changes like his draughty seas? + Or is there none, most popular of men, + But when they mock us that we mock again? + + + + +THESE ARE THE CLOUDS + + + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye; + The weak lay hand on what the strong has done, + Till that be tumbled that was lifted high + And discord follow upon unison, + And all things at one common level lie. + And therefore, friend, if your great race were run + And these things came, so much the more thereby + Have you made greatness your companion, + Although it be for children that you sigh: + These are the clouds about the fallen sun, + The majesty that shuts his burning eye. + + + + +AT GALWAY RACES + + + Out yonder, where the race course is, + Delight makes all of the one mind, + Riders upon the swift horses, + The field that closes in behind: + We, too, had good attendance once, + Hearers and hearteners of the work; + Aye, horsemen for companions, + Before the merchant and the clerk + Breathed on the world with timid breath. + Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon, + We'll learn that sleeping is not death, + Hearing the whole earth change its tune, + Its flesh being wild, and it again + Crying aloud as the race course is, + And we find hearteners among men + That ride upon horses. + + + + +A FRIEND'S ILLNESS + + + Sickness brought me this + Thought, in that scale of his: + Why should I be dismayed + Though flame had burned the whole + World, as it were a coal, + Now I have seen it weighed + Against a soul? + + + + +ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME + + + All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: + One time it was a woman's face, or worse-- + The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; + Now nothing but comes readier to the hand + Than this accustomed toil. When I was young, + I had not given a penny for a song + Did not the poet sing it with such airs + That one believed he had a sword upstairs; + Yet would be now, could I but have my wish, + Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish. + + + + +THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG + + + I whispered, "I am too young," + And then, "I am old enough," + Wherefore I threw a penny + To find out if I might love; + "Go and love, go and love, young man, + If the lady be young and fair," + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + I am looped in the loops of her hair. + + Oh love is the crooked thing, + There is nobody wise enough + To find out all that is in it, + For he would be thinking of love + Till the stars had run away, + And the shadows eaten the moon; + Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, + One cannot begin it too soon. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY + + LAEGAIRE LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + CONALL CONALL'S WIFE + CUCHULAIN LAEG, _Cuchulain's chariot-driver_ + EMER RED MAN, _A Spirit_ + + Horse Boys and Scullions, Black Men, etc. + + + + +THE GREEN HELMET + +_An Heroic Farce_ + + + SCENE: _A house made of logs. There are two windows at the back and + a door which cuts off one of the corners of the room. Through the + door one can see low rocks which make the ground outside higher than + it is within, and beyond the rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the + windows one can see nothing but the sea. There is a great chair at + the opposite side to the door, and in front of it a table with cups + and a flagon of ale. Here and there are stools._ + + _At the Abbey Theatre the house is orange red and the chairs and + tables and flagons black, with a slight purple tinge which is not + clearly distinguishable from the black. The rocks are black with a + few green touches. The sea is green and luminous, and all the + characters except the RED MAN and the Black Men are dressed in + various shades of green, one or two with touches of purple which + look nearly black. The Black Men all wear dark purple and have eared + caps, and at the end their eyes should look green from the reflected + light of the sea. The RED MAN is altogether in red. He is very tall, + and his height increased by horns on the Green Helmet. The effect is + intentionally violent and startling._ + + +LAEGAIRE + + What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an + eye, + A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by; + But that could not be. + +CONALL + + You have dreamed it--there's nothing out there. + I killed them all before daybreak--I hoked them out of their lair; + I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword, + And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard. + +LAEGAIRE + + Does anything stir on the sea? + +CONALL + + Not even a fish or a gull: + I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon's at the full. + + [_A distant shout._] + +LAEGAIRE + + Ah--there--there is someone who calls us. + +CONALL + + But from the landward side, + And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide; + The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise, + But the land will do us no harm. + +LAEGAIRE + + It was like Cuchulain's voice. + +CONALL + + But that's an impossible thing. + +LAEGAIRE + + An impossible thing indeed. + +CONALL + + For he will never come home, he has all that he could need + In that high windy Scotland--good luck in all that he does. + Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows, + And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away, + And take his good name from him between a day and a day. + +LAEGAIRE + + I would he'd come for all that, and make his young wife know + That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go + Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night + Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right; + And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can. + She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man. + +CONALL + + A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin + Comes down through the rocks and hazels. + +LAEGAIRE + + Cry out that he cannot come in. + +CONALL + + He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop + Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up. + +LAEGAIRE + + No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two. + +CONALL + + [_Outside door_] + + Go away, go away, go away. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Outside door_] + + I will go when the night is through + And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart's delight. + +CONALL + + A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night. + +YOUNG MAN + + Who made that law? + +CONALL + + We made it, and who has so good a right? + Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day? + +YOUNG MAN + + Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way. + + [_He pushes past CONALL and goes into house_] + +CONALL + + I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door, + Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor; + And had I been rightly ready there's no man living could do it, + Dip or no dip. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out--if you have your wits, go out, + A stone's throw further on you will find a big house where + Our wives will give you supper, and you'll sleep sounder there, + For it's a luckier house. + +YOUNG MAN + + I'll eat and sleep where I will. + +LAEGAIRE + + Go out or I will make you. + +YOUNG MAN + + [_Forcing up LAEGAIRE'S arm, passing him and putting his shield on + the wall over the chair_] + + Not till I have drunk my fill. + But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder's up. + Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top, + And the cups-- + +LAEGAIRE + + It is Cuchulain. + +CUCHULAIN + + The cups are dry as a bone. + + [_He sits on chair and drinks_] + +CONALL + + Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone + From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat. + +CUCHULAIN + + If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that + Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face? + +CONALL + + We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace. + +CUCHULAIN + + I am losing patience, Conall--I find you stuffed with pride, + The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide; + You'd put me off with words, but the whole thing's plain enough, + You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love + In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves, + Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves + Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro; + But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no, + I am going too. + +LAEGAIRE + + Better tell it all out to the end; + He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend + The bad luck we were born to. + +CONALL + + I'll lay the whole thing bare. + You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there. + Does anything stir on the sea? + +LAEGAIRE + + Not even a fish or a gull. + +CONALL + + You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full. + We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke + When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak, + With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth, + And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth + He could drink the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I thought he had come from one of you + Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew; + But if he so loved water I have the tale awry. + +CONALL + + You would not be so merry if he were standing by, + For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin + He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been; + And when we had asked what game, he answered, "Why, whip off my head! + Then one of you two stoop down, and I'll whip off his," he said. + "A head for a head," he said, "that is the game that I play." + +CUCHULAIN + + How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away? + +CONALL + + We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit, + But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split, + Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow, + Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so, + And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me. + +LAEGAIRE + + Till he took it up in his hands-- + +CONALL + + And splashed himself into the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + I have imagined as good when I've been as deep in the cup. + +LAEGAIRE + + You never did. + +CUCHULAIN + + And believed it. + +CONALL + + Cuchulain, when will you stop + Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two, + And crying out to the world whatever we say or do, + That you've said or done a better?--Nor is it a drunkard's tale, + Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale, + And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock, + Swore we should keep it secret. + +LAEGAIRE + + But twelve months upon the clock. + +CONALL + + A twelvemonth from the first time. + +LAEGAIRE + + And the jug full up to the brim: + For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him. + +CONALL + + We stood as we're standing now. + +LAEGAIRE + + The horns were as empty. + +CONALL + + When + He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again. + +CUCHULAIN + + Why, this is a tale worth telling. + +CONALL + + And he called for his debt and his right, + And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night + If we did not pay him his debt. + +LAEGAIRE + + What is there to be said + When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head? + +CONALL + + If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us. + +LAEGAIRE + + He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house + And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day. + +CONALL + + He would have followed after if we had run away. + +LAEGAIRE + + Will he tell every mother's son that we have broken our word? + +CUCHULAIN + + Whether he does or does not we'll drive him out with the sword, + And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff. + +CONALL + + How can you fight with a head that laughs when you've whipped it off? + +LAEGAIRE + + Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand? + +CONALL + + He is coming now, there's a splash and a rumble along the strand + As when he came last. + +CUCHULAIN + + Come, and put all your backs to the door. + + [_A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked man stands upon the threshold + against the misty green of the sea; the ground, higher without than + within the house, makes him seem taller even than he is. He leans + upon a great two-handed sword_] + +LAEGAIRE + + It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more + And laughs like the sea. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old herring--You whip off heads! Why, then + Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again. + Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say, + Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away; + Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort, + Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport + Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest + A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west. + But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say! + If there's no sword can harm you, I've an older trick to play, + An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place; + I am Sualtim's son Cuchulain--what, do you laugh in my face? + +RED MAN + + So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll! + A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler's feat, that is all, + To make the time go quickly--for I am the drinker's friend, + The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world's end, + The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift: + I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift, + + [_He lays his Helmet on the ground_] + + And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best. + O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest. + Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup. + There, I'm forgiven now-- + + [_Then in a more solemn voice as he goes out_] + + Let the bravest take it up. + + [_CONALL takes up Helmet and gazes at it with delight_] + + LAEGAIRE + + [_Singing, with a swaggering stride_] + + Laegaire is best; + Between water and hill, + He fought in the west + With cat heads, until + At the break of day + All fell by his sword, + And he carried away + Their hidden hoard. + + [_He seizes the Helmet_] + +CONALL + + Give it me, for what did you find in the bag + But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag + You'd taken for good money? + +CUCHULAIN + + No, no, but give it me. + + [_He takes Helmet_] + +CONALL + + The Helmet's mine or Laegaire's--you're the youngest of us three. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Filling Helmet with ale_] + + I did not take it to keep it--the Red Man gave it for one, + But I shall give it to all--to all of us three or to none; + That is as you look upon it--we will pass it to and fro, + And time and time about, drink out of it and so + Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives. + Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives, + And I drink to Emer, my wife. + + [_A great noise without and shouting_] + + Why, what in God's name is that noise? + +CONALL + + What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys + Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own, + That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they'll keep it up till the dawn, + And there's not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night, + Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight. + + [_A noise of horns without_] + + There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each + They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other's speech + For fear the truth may prevail.--Here's your good health and long life, + And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife. + + [_The charioteers, Stable Boys and Kitchen Boys come running in. + They carry great horns, ladles and the like_] + +LAEG + + I am Laeg, Cuchulain's driver, and my master's cock of the yard. + +ANOTHER + + Conall would scatter his feathers. + + [_Confused murmurs_] + +LAEGAIRE + + [_To_ CUCHULAIN] + + No use, they won't hear a word. + +CONALL + + They'll keep it up till the dawn. + +ANOTHER + + It is Laegaire that is the best, + For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest + And drained his ale pot. + +ANOTHER + + Laegaire--what does a man of his sort + Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport. + +ANOTHER + + It was all mere luck at the best. + +ANOTHER + + But Conall, I say-- + +ANOTHER + + Let me speak. + +LAEG + + You'd be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak. + +ANOTHER + + Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight. + +LAEG + + Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite, + For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began. + +ANOTHER + + Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Who was it started this quarrel? + +A STABLE BOY + + It was Laeg. + +ANOTHER + + It was Laeg done it all. + +LAEG + + A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall, + Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind, + And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind, + That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth. + So I cried your name through the hall, + + [_The others cry out and blow horns, partly drowning the rest of his + speech_] + + but they denied its worth, + Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice; + But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise + Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face, + And as neither side would give in--we would settle it in this place. + Let the Helmet be taken from Conall. + +A STABLE BOY + + No, Conall is the best man here. + +ANOTHER + + Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear. + +CUCHULAIN + + It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease, + We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace. + I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now, + + [_CONALL gives Helmet to LAEGAIRE_] + + That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know + That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight. + +A SERVANT + + That's well--I will stop my shouting. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain is in the right; + I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + By drinking the first he took + The whole of the honours himself. + +LAEG + + Cuchulain, you drank the first. + +ANOTHER + + If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst. + +ANOTHER + + Cuchulain and Conall have drunk. + +ANOTHER + + He is lost if he taste a drop. + +LAEGAIRE + + [_Laying Helmet on table_] + + Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup? + +CUCHULAIN + + [_His words are partly drowned by the murmurs of the crowd though he + speaks very loud_] + + That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is + Who has set us all by the ears--he brought the Helmet for this, + And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout + That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out. + + [_The murmur grows less so that his words are heard_] + + Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight? + So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night, + Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn. + +A SERVANT + + Cuchulain is in the right--I am tired of this big horn. + +CUCHULAIN + + Go! + + [_The Servants turn toward the door but stop on hearing the voices + of Women outside_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + Mine is the better to look at. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Without_] + + But mine is better born. + +EMER + + [_Without_] + + My man is the pithier man. + +CUCHULAIN + + Old hurricane, well done! + You've set our wives to the game that they may egg us on; + We are to kill each other that you may sport with us. + Ah, now, they've begun to wrestle as to who'll be first at the house. + + [_The Women come to the door struggling_] + +EMER + + No, I have the right of place for I married the better man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Pulling Emer back_] + + My nails in your neck and shoulder. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + And go before me if you can. + My husband fought in the West. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_Kneeling in the door so as to keep the others out who pull at + her_] + + But what did he fight with there + But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air? + And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf? + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself, + Drowning his terror. + +EMER + + [_Forcing herself in front_] + + I am Emer, it is I go first through the door. + No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before + My man has been praised. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Spreading his arms across the door so as to close it_] + + Come, put an end to their quarrelling: + One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king. + Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor + That they come in together, each one at her own door. + + [_LAEGAIRE and CONALL begin to break out the bottoms of the windows, + then their wives go to the windows, each to the window where her + husband is. EMER stands at the door and sings while the boards are + being broken out_] + +EMER + + Nothing that he has done, + His mind that is fire, + His body that is sun, + Have set my head higher + Than all the world's wives. + Himself on the wind + Is the gift that he gives, + Therefore womenkind, + When their eyes have met mine, + Grow cold and grow hot, + Troubled as with wine + By a secret thought, + Preyed upon, fed upon + By jealousy and desire. + I am moon to that sun, + I am steel to that fire, + + [_The windows are now broken down to floor. CUCHULAIN takes his + spear from the door, and the three Women come in at the same + moment_] + +EMER + + Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake: + I will sing till I've stiffened your lip against every knave that would + take + A share of your honour. + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + You lie, for your man would take from my man. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + [_To LAEGAIRE'S WIFE_] + + You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Taking up Helmet from table_] + + Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack, + The very straws may wrangle till they've thrown down the stack; + The very door-posts bicker till they've pulled in the door, + The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor, + But this shall help no further. + + [_He throws Helmet into the sea_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + It was not for your head, + And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead. + +CONALL'S WIFE + + But you shall answer for it, for you've robbed my man by this. + +CONALL + + You have robbed us both, Cuchulain. + +LAEGAIRE + + The greatest wrong there is + On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day. + +EMER + + [_Drawing her dagger_] + + Who is for Cuchulain? + +CUCHULAIN + + Silence! + +EMER + + Who is for Cuchulain, I say? + + [_She sings the same words as before, flourishing her dagger about. + While she is singing, CONALL'S WIFE and LAEGAIRE'S WIFE draw their + daggers and run at her, but CUCHULAIN forces them back. LAEGAIRE and + CONALL draw their swords to strike CUCHULAIN_] + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + [_Crying out so as to be heard through EMER'S singing_] + + Deafen her singing with horns! + +CONALL'S WIFE + + Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise! + +LAEGAIRE'S WIFE + + Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice! + + [_The Horse Boys and Scullions blow their horns or fight among + themselves. There is a deafening noise and a confused fight. + Suddenly three black hands come through the windows and put out the + torches. It is now pitch dark, but for a faint light outside the + house which merely shows that there are moving forms, but not who or + what they are, and in the darkness one can hear low terrified + voices_] + +A VOICE + + Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand. + +ANOTHER VOICE + + Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air. + + [_A light gradually comes into the house from the sea, on which the + moon begins to show once more. There is no light within the house, + and the great beams of the walls are dark and full of shadows, and + the persons of the play dark too against the light. The RED MAN is + seen standing in the midst of the house. The black cat-headed Men + crouch and stand about the door. One carries the Helmet, one the + great sword_] + +RED MAN + + I demand the debt that's owing. Let some man kneel down there + That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack. + +CUCHULAIN + + He played and paid with his head and it's right that we pay him back, + And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: + So I will give him my head. + + [_EMER begins to keen_] + + Little wife, little wife, be at rest. + Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun, + And been no faithful man; but when my story is done + My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all. + +EMER + + [_Putting her arms about him_] + + It is you, not your fame, that I love. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Tries to put her from him_] + + You are young, you are wise, you can call + Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house. + +EMER + + Live and be faithless still. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Throwing her from him_] + + Would you stay the great barnacle-goose + When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air? + +EMER + + [_Lifting her dagger to stab herself_] + + I, too, on the grey wing's path. + +CUCHULAIN + + [_Seizing dagger_] + + Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare? + Bear children and sweep the house. + + [_Forcing his way through the Servants who gather round_] + + Wail, but keep from the road. + + [_He kneels before RED MAN. There is a pause_] + + Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed. + + [_A black cat-headed Man holds out the Helmet. The RED MAN takes it_] + +RED MAN + + I have not come for your hurt, I'm the Rector of this land, + And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band, + Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship + The man who hits my fancy. + + [_He places the Helmet on CUCHULAIN'S head_] + + And I choose the laughing lip + That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall, + The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all; + The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler's throw; + And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know, + When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong, + And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song. + + + [Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Helmet and Other Poems, by +William Butler Yeats + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS *** + +***** This file should be named 30488.txt or 30488.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/8/30488/ + +Produced by Meredith Bach, Marius Borror and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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