THE MORTAL ANSWERS

     
     
                         .................COME AWAY—
          WITH THE FAIRIES, HAND IN HAND,
          FOR THE WORLD IS MORE FULL OF WEEPING
          THAN YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.
                           W.B. Yeats.
           From the Wood of the Old Wives' Fables
       They glittered out of the grey,
     And with all the Armies of Elf-land
       I strove like a beast at bay;
           With only a right arm wearied,
       Only a red sword worn,
     And the pride of the House of Adam
       That holdeth the stars in scorn.
           For they came with chains of flowers
       And lilies lances free,
     There in the quiet greenwood
       To take my grief from me.
           And I said, “Now all is shaken
       When heavily hangs the brow,
     When the hope of the years is taken
       The last star sunken. Now—
           “Hear, you chattering cricket,
       Hear, you spawn of the sod,
     The strange strong cry in the darkness
       Of one man praising God,
           “That out of the night and nothing
       With travail of birth he came
     To stand one hour in the sunlight
       Only to say her name.
           “Falls through her hair the sunshine
       In showers; it touches, see,
     Her high bright cheeks in turning;
       Ah, Elfin Company,
           “The world is hot and cruel,
       We are weary of heart and hand.
     But the world is more full of glory
       Than you can understand.”