W. B. Yeats


No Second Troy                        

  Why should I blame her that she filled my days
  With misery, or that she would of late
  Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
  Or hurled the little streets upon the great.
  Had they but courage equal to desire?
  What could have made her peaceful with a mind
  That nobleness made simple as a fire,
  With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
  That is not natural in an age like this,
  Being high and solitary and most stern?
  Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
  Was there another Troy for her to burn?

  1910