`O cruel Death, give three things back,’
Sang a bone upon the shore;
`A child found all a child can lack,
Whether of pleasure or of rest,
Upon the abundance of my breast’:
A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.
`Three dear things that women know,’
Sang a bhone upon the shore;
`A man if I but held him so
When my body was alive
Found all the pleasure that life gave’:
A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.
`The third thing that I think of yet,’
Sang a bone upon the shore,
`Is that morning when I met
Face to face my rightful man
And did after stretch and yawn’:
A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.
(William Butler Yeats)
More Poetry from William Butler Yeats:
William Butler Yeats Poems based on Topics: Man, Death & Dying, Body, Pleasure- 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)
- Coole Park And Ballylee, 1931 (William Butler Yeats Poems)
- The Wanderings of Oisin: Book I (William Butler Yeats Poems)