‘And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.’—W.B. Yeats
If I were a silver fish
I would dart through the dark reeds
seeking you, following you
wherever you chose to lead
Or I would suddenly twist
in the clear water, sunlight
shafting down, and, laughing, I
would lead you for a little while
and in the evening, when the
stream water glows like fire, we
would rest, side by side, just touching,
yin and yang, we would fall asleep
Day 25 of this cold, bleak November, brightened considerably by Jane Dougherty’s Yeats fiesta.
I saw your comment on Jane’s page about the poem, and I can see this is the response. Lovely.
I particularly like the final stanza. Enjoy the rest of your bleak, cold November day. It’s cold here, too, but the sun is out right now, and we’ll be drinking wine later. 😉
LikeLike
Thank you so much! Enjoy your wine. I’m a single mother this weekend, but I think both kids are home tonight, so I might venture on a splash of gin!
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂
LikeLike
Fun poem! Lighter-spirited than Yeats. But then, you were probably sober while you wrote…. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
• Toners (139 Lower Baggott Street). It’s perhaps the only Dublin pub that can claim a connection with near-teetotaler W. B. Yeats. After sipping a sherry, the future Nobel laureate said, “Now I’ve seen a
pub,” and left. A more frequent visitor was Bram Stoker (Dracula).
http://culturelocker.com/story/2012/Dublin-literati.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting reading! I know only a bit about Yeats — have plundered and reread The Second Coming freely. Hopefully not too freely in either case. I find much of what he wrote too dark and murky to live in it for long. But he had a way with a pen and phrase. Your take was awesome; alcohol or no.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I think he was quite a strange guy, writing in a turbulent time. I just remember seeing a sign in Toners about Yeats’ very un-Irish lack of enthusiasm for pubs!
LikeLike
Quite questionable! Probably a transplant.
LikeLike
“yin and yang, we would fall asleep” – so beautiful.
LikeLike
Thank you.
LikeLike
I love how the darting and twisting turns in the end to a simple sleeping. Just lovely! 🤗
LikeLike