Aedh Wishes His Beloved Were Dead

by William Butler Yeats

　　

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Were you but lying cold and dead, And lights were paling out of the West, You would come hither, and bend your head, And I would lay my head on your breast; And you would murmur tender words, Forgiving me, because you were dead: Nor would you rise and hasten away, Though you have the will of the wild birds, But know your hair was bound and wound About the stars and moon and sun: O would beloved that you lay Under the dock-leaves in the ground, While lights were paling one by one.

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