Aedh Tells of the Perfect Beauty
Published in Poem Of The Day
O cloud-pale eyelids, dream-dimmed eyes,
The poets labouring all their days
To build a perfect beauty in rhyme
Are overthrown by a woman's gaze
And by the unlabouring brood of the skies:
And therefore my heart will bow, when dew
Is dropping sleep, until God burn time,
Before the unlabouring stars and you.
About this poem
"Aedh Tells of the Perfect Beauty" was published in W.B. Yeats' book "The Wind Among the Reeds" (John Lane, 1899).
About W.B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865. His books include "The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems" (1889) and "The Wild Swans at Coole" (1919). In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Yeats died in 1939.
***
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Distributed by King Features Syndicate