Yeats

December 25, 2010 • 9:54 am

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

8 thoughts on “Yeats”

  2. I love WB Yeats; I wonder where on the planet my collection of his works are. Probably right next to Robert Burns – not that it does me any good knowing that.

    1. When the Wind is in the Yeast

      (With apologies to W.B.Yeast)

      Turning and turning in the secondary vat
      The Yeast cannot hear the brewer.

      (Did you not know that yeast is a beast
      That works all the year making beer?)

      It knows that it shall meet its fate
      Somewhere among the sots below,
      Those that destroy it it does not hate,
      Those that it fills it does not know.

      Always shall a young man,
      Turned into a beast
      By that great honey-coloured
      12oz glass of beer,
      Love it for its side effects
      And not its maker, yeast.

      (And if you don’t, as well, know this,
      Then someone in the bar might,
      That Yeast, for those who don’t drink pies,
      Is also found in Marmite.)

      But to say the least, the process is not fast;
      That Yeast lacks polish makes it feel forlorn;
      And what rough Yeast, its hour come round at last,
      Slouches towards Wards to be born.

      – Trad

      (University of Canterbury student paper Canta, 1966)

      Marmite: a yeast extract similar to Vegemite
      Wards: a New Zealand brewery

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