Bring me to the blasted oak
That I, midnight upon the stroke,
(All find safety in the tomb.)
May call down curses on his head
Because of my dear Jack that’s dead.
Coxcomb was the least he said:
The solid man and the coxcomb.
Nor was he Bishop when his ban
Banished Jack the Journeyman,
(All find safety in the tomb.)
Nor so much as parish priest,
Yet he, an old book in his fist,
Cried that we lived like beast and beast:
The solid man and the coxcomb.
The Bishop has a skin, God knows,
Wrinkled like the foot of a goose,
(All find safety in the tomb.)
Nor can he hide in holy black
The heron’s hunch upon his back,
But a birch-tree stood my Jack:
The solid man and the coxcomb.
Jack had my virginity,
And bids me to the oak, for he
(all find safety in the tomb.)
Wanders out into the night
And there is shelter under it,
But should that other come, I spit:
The solid man and the coxcomb.
(William Butler Yeats)
More Poetry from William Butler Yeats:
William Butler Yeats Poems based on Topics: Man, Night, Cry, God- 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 Indian To His Love (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Black Tower (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Man Who Dreamed Of Faeryland (William Butler Yeats Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, God Poems, Night Poems, Cry PoemsBased on Keywords: birch-tree, virginity, coxcomb, hunch, journeyman
- M'Fingal - Canto III (John Trumbull Poems)
- The Mountain Of The Lovers (Paul Hamilton Hayne Poems)
- The Hind And The Panther, A Poem In Three Parts : Part I. (John Henry Dryden Poems)
- The Tragedy of White Injustice (Marcus Mosiah Garvey Poems)
- The Minstrel; Or, The Progress Of Genius : Book I. (James Beattie Poems)