W. B. Yeats


The Cold Heaven                    

  Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
  That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
  And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
  So wild that every casual thought of that and this
  Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
  With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
  And I took all thc blame out of all sense and reason,
  Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
  Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
  Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
  Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
  By the injustice of the skies for punishment?

  1912