William Yeats - Poems

Leap feathered on the air

And meet them with her soul caught in your claws.

( They rush out. ALEEL crawls into the middle of the room . The twilight has fallen and gradually darkens as the scene goes on. There is a distant muttering of thunder and a sound of rising storm. )

ALEEL

The brazen door stands wide, and Balor comes

Borne in his heavy car, and demons have lifted

The age-weary eyelids from the eyes that of old

Turned gods to stone; Barach, the traitor, comes

And the lascivious race, Cailitin,

That cast a druid weakness and decay

Over Sualtem's and old Dectera's child;

And that great king Hell first took hold upon

When he killed Naisi and broke Deirdre's heart

And all their heads are twisted to one side,

For when they lived they warred on beauty and peace

With obstinate, crafty, sidelong bitterness.

( He moves about as though the air above him was full of spirits . OONA enters .)

Crouch down, old heron, out of the blind storm.

OONA

Where is the Countess Cathleen? All this day

Her eyes were full of tears, and when for a moment

Her hand was laid upon my hand it trembled,

And now I do not know where she is gone.

ALEEL

Cathleen has chosen other friends than us,

And they are rising through the hollow world.

Demons are out, old heron.

OONA

God guard her soul.

ALEEL

She's bartered it away this very hour,

As though we two were never in the world.

( He points downward. )

First, Orchill, her pale, beautiful head

Her body shadowy as vapour drifting

Under the dawn, for she who awoke desire

Has but a heart of blood when others die;

About her is a vapoury multitude

Of women alluring devils with soft laughter;

Behind her a host heat of the blood made sin,

But all the little pink-white nails have grown

To be great talons.

( He seizes OONA and drags her into the middle of the room and points downward with vehement gestures . The wind roars. )

They begin a song

And there is still some music on their tongues.

OONA ( casting herself face downwards on the floor )

O, Maker of all, protect her from the demons,

And if a soul must need be lost, take mine.

(ALEEL kneels beside her, but does not seem to hear her words . The PEASANTS return . They carry the COUNTESS CATHLEEN and lay her upon the ground before OONA and ALEEL. She lies there as if dead. )

OONA

O, that so many pitchers of rough clay

Should prosper and the porcelain break in two!

( She kisses the hands of CATHLEEN.)

A PEASANT

We were under the tree where the path turns,

When she grew pale as death and fainted away.

And while we bore her hither cloudy gusts

Blackened the world and shook us on our feet;

Draw the great bolt, for no man has beheld

So black, bitter, blinding, and sudden a storm.

( One who is near the door draws the bolt. )

CATHLEEN

O, hold me, and hold me tightly, for the storm

Is dragging me away.

(OONA takes her in her arms . A woman begins to wail .)

PEASANT

Hush!

PEASANTS

Hush!

PEASANT WOMEN

Hush!

OTHER PEASANT WOMEN

Hush!

CATHLEEN ( half rising )

Lay all the bags of money in a heap,

And when I am gone, old Oona, share them out

To every man and woman: judge, and give

According to their needs.

A PEASANT WOMAN

And will she give

Enough to keep my children through the dearth?

ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN

O, Queen of Heaven, and all you blessed saints,

Let us and ours be lost so she be shriven.

CATHLEEN

Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel;

I gaze upon them as the swallow gazes

Upon the nest under the eave, before

She wander the loud waters. Do not weep

Too great a while, for there is many a candle

On the High Altar though one fall. Aleel,

Who sang about the dancers of the woods,

That know not the hard burden of the world,

Having but breath in their kind bodies, farewell!

And farewell, Oona, you who played with me,

And bore me in your arms about the house

When I was but a child and therefore happy,

Therefore happy, even like those that dance.

The storm is in my hair and I must go.

( She dies. )

OONA

Bring me the looking-glass.

(A woman brings it to her out of the inner room . OONA holds it over the lips of CATHLEEN. All is silent for a moment. And then she speaks in a half scream :)

O, she is dead!

A PEASANT

She was the great white lily of the world.

A PEASANT

She was more beautiful than the pale stars.

AN OLD PEASANT WOMAN

The little plant I love is broken in two.

(ALEEL takes looking-glass from OONA and flings it upon the floor so that it is broken in many pieces .)

ALEEL

I shatter you in fragments, for the face

That brimmed you up with beauty is no more:

And die, dull heart, for she whose mournful words

Made you a living spirit has passed away

And left you but a ball of passionate dust.

And you, proud earth and plumy sea, fade out!

For you may hear no more her faltering feet,

But are left lonely amid the clamorous war

Of angels upon devils.

( He stands up; almost every one is kneeling, but it has grown so dark that only confused forms can be seen. )

And I who weep

Call curses on you, Time and Fate and Change,

And have no excellent hope but the great hour

When you shall plunge headlong through bottomless space.

( A flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder. )

A PEASANT WOMAN

Pull him upon his knees before his curses

Have plucked thunder and lightning on our heads.

ALEEL

Angels and devils clash in the middle air,

And brazen swords clang upon brazen helms.

( A flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder. )

Yonder a bright spear, cast out of a sling,

Has torn through Balor's eye, and the dark clans

Fly screaming as they fled Moytura of old.

( Everything is lost in darkness. )

AN OLD MAN

The Almighty wrath at our great weakness and sin

Has blotted out the world and we must die.

( The darkness is broken by a visionary light. The PEASANTS seem to be kneeling upon the rocky slope of a mountain, and vapour full of storm and ever-changing light is sweeping above them and behind them. Half in the light, half in the shadow, stand armed angels. Their armour is old and worn, and their drawn swords dim and dinted. They stand as if upon the air in formation of battle and look downward with stern faces. The PEASANTS cast themselves on the ground .)

ALEEL

Look no more on the half-closed gates of Hell,

But speak to me, whose mind is smitten of God,

That it may be no more with mortal things,

And tell of her who lies there.

( He seizes one of the angels. )

Till you speak

You shall not drift into eternity.

THE ANGEL

The light beats down; the gates of pearl are wide

And she is passing to the floor of peace,

And Mary of the seven times wounded heart

Has kissed her lips, and the long blessed hair

Has fallen on her face; The Light of Lights

Looks always on the motive, not the deed,

The Shadow of Shadows on the deed alone.

(ALEEL releases the ANGEL and kneels .)