Sunday, September 18, 2005

The Valley of the Black Pig

Sorry I've not posted in a few weeks. Here's another poem from W.S. Yeats:

The dews drop slowly and dreams gather: unknown spears
Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes,
And then the clash of fallen horsemen and the cries
Of unknown perishing arimies beat about my ears.
We who still labour by the cromlech on the shore,
The grey cairn on the hill, when day sinks drowned in dew,
Being weary of the world's empires, bow down to you,
Master of the still stars and of the flaming door.

I liked the ending because I saw it as renouncing the world in favor of Christ's kingdom:

We who still labor [in the world], being weary of the world's empires, bow down to you, [O Christ,] Master of the still stars and of the flaming door [of paradise.]