(From Oedipus at Colonus)
Chorus. Come praise Colonus’ horses, and come praise
The wine-dark of the wood’s intricacies,
The nightingale that deafens daylight there,
If daylight ever visit where,
Unvisited by tempest or by sun,
Immortal ladies tread the ground
Dizzy with harmonious sound,
Semele’s lad a gay companion.
And yonder in the gymnasts’ garden thrives
The self-sown, self-begotten shape that gives
Athenian intellect its mastery,
Even the grey-leaved olive-tree
Miracle-bred out of the living stone;
Nor accident of peace nor war
Shall wither that old marvel, for
The great grey-eyed Athene stares thereon.
Who comes into this country, and has come
Where golden crocus and narcissus bloom,
Where the Great Mother, mourning for her daughter
And beauty-drunken by the water
Glittering among grey-leaved olive-trees,
Has plucked a flower and sung her loss;
Who finds abounding Cephisus
Has found the loveliest spectacle there is.
because this country has a pious mind
And so remembers that when all mankind
But trod the road, or splashed about the shore,
Poseidon gave it bit and oar,
Every Colonus lad or lass discourses
Of that oar and of that bit;
Summer and winter, day and night,
Of horses and horses of the sea, white horses.
(William Butler Yeats)
More Poetry from William Butler Yeats:
William Butler Yeats Poems based on Topics: Night, Friendship, Sadness, War & Peace, Water, Mothers, Countries, Flowers, Summer, Immortality, Winter- A Man Young And Old (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- A Lover's Quarrel Among the Fairies (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- A Deep-Sworn Vow (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Lover Mourns For The Loss Of Love (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Meditation Of The Old Fisherman (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Ballad Of Father Gilligan (William Butler Yeats Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Sadness Poems, War & Peace Poems, Friendship Poems, Flowers Poems, Mothers Poems, Summer Poems, Water Poems, Winter Poems, Countries Poems, Immortality PoemsBased on Keywords: athenian, unvisited, oedipus, poseidon, athene, semele, intricacies, discourses, olive-trees, grey-eyed, wine-dark