| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Love and the Bird | | By William Butler Yeats |
| | | THE MOMENTS passed as at a play, | |
| I had the wisdom love can bring, | |
| I had my share of mother wit; | |
| And yet for all that I could say, | |
| And though I had her praise for it, | 5 |
| And she seemed happy as a king, | |
| Love’s moon was withering away. | |
| |
| Believing every word I said | |
| I praised her body and her mind, | |
| Till pride had made her eyes grow bright, | 10 |
| And pleasure made her cheeks grow red, | |
| And vanity her footfall light; | |
| Yet we, for all that praise, could find | |
| Nothing but darkness overhead. | |
| |
| I sat as silent as a stone | 15 |
| And knew, though she’d not said a word, | |
| That even the best of love must die, | |
| And had been savagely undone | |
| Were it not that love, upon the cry | |
| Of a most ridiculous little bird, | 20 |
| Threw up in the air his marvellous moon. | | | | |
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