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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE LOVER ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE OF HIS MANY MOODS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF THIS IMPORTUNATE HEART TROUBLE YOUR PEACE
Last Line: THE ODOROUS TWILIGHT THERE.
Subject(s): MOODS; FORGIVENESS;

If this importunate heart trouble your peace
With words lighter than air,
Or hopes that in mere hoping flicker and cease;
Crumple the rose in your hair;
And cover your lips with odorous twilight and say,
'O Hearts of wind-blown flame!
'O Winds, elder than changing of night and day,
'That murmuring and longing came
'From marble cities loud with tabors of old
'In dove-gray faery lands;
'From battle banners, fold upon purple fold,
'Queens wrought with glimmering hands;
'That saw young Niamh hover with love-lorn face
'Above the wandering tide;
'And lingered in the hidden desolate place
'Where the last Phoenix died,
'And wrapped the flames above his holy head;
'And still murmur and long:
'O Piteous Hearts, changing till change be dead
'In a tumultuous song':
And cover the pale blossoms of your breast
With your dim heavy hair,
And trouble with a sign for all things longing for rest
The odorous twilight there.



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