The Hour-glass Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFG H AIJKLMNOAOPQRSOTUQQV K BWXYZSA2YWOB2C2XD2VE 2F2AE2F2G2AG2H2I2J2K 2VKVK2K2L2M2M2OJ2OOE N2O2C2E2P2Q2ENBR2S2B BLOJT2LT2LEU2NBGGV2W 2OX2Y2E2E2BELZ2 K A3 B3 WC3D3E3F3JG3F3WF3N2S 2L2L2N2S2AH3ANI3OJ3J 2LK3F3L3K3Z2Z2WOW2M3 W2DN3BO3EP3Q3F3OR3S3 T3R3U3E2V3W3FX3Y3OAY JK3Z3Z3OA4OB4C4R3D4C 2E4YF4G4M3C2F3JBWW2A E4H4I4E3O3W3B VG4J2J4B3K4L4H3T3M4N 4O4E2BP4A3 OQ4T2E4R4S4T4OE3E4G S4U4V4 L4F4Y3J2R3YSC2BL4OC2 W4AAT3X4U4AP2Y4Z4L2Y G2WFALL2ABO2Y3AOE2WB 3C2Z3C2T2V2VL2LYKCFN 2YX3JH3CGFAX3W3FC2JB H4AKLJFY3M4JYOOWLOR3 YDQ2Y2L4PV2J2WYK2WL4 J2LT2JN3WZ3BBY2WGW3C KJO2W2Z3S4S4Z3AW2M3L 4GCAJ2J2OFEIAANB4AOO WWWJY4J2AW2OL2AJ2BAY Y3W2VH3AS2PG4J2GNALY E4OL2W2Y4P4Y4GFJ2BK2 L4AAG4AF2AF2G2AN2 OJJ BJ2

He said we might choose the subject for the lessonA
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The Persons of the PlayB
Wise ManC
Bridget his wifeD
Teigue a foolE
AngelF
Children and PupilsG
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Pupils come in and stand before the stage curtain which is still closed One pupil carries a bookH
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FIRST PUPIL He said we might choose the subject for the lessonA
SECOND PUPIL There is none of us wise enough to do thatI
THIRD PUPIL It would need a great deal of wisdom to know what it is we want to knowJ
FOURTH PUPIL I will question himK
FIFTH PUPIL YouL
FOURTH PUPIL Last night I dreamt that some one came and told me to question him I was to say to him 'You were wrong to say there is no God and no soul maybe if there is not much of either there is yet some tatters some tag on the wind so to speak some rag upon a bush some bob tail of a god ' I will argue with him nonsense though it be according to my dream and you will see how well I can argue and what thoughts I haveM
FIRST PUPIL I'd as soon listen to dried peas in a bladder as listen to your thoughts Fools comes inN
FOOL Give me a pennyO
SECOND PUPIL Let us choose a subject by chance Here is his big book Let us turn over the pages slowly Let one of us put down his finger without looking The passage his finger lights on will be the subject for the lessonA
FOOL Give me a pennyO
THIRD PUPIL Taking up book How heavy it isP
FOURTH PUPIL Spread it on Teigue's back and then we can all stand round and see the choiceQ
SECOND PUPIL Make him spread out his armsR
FOURTH PUPIL Down on your knees Hunch up your back Spread your arms out now and look like a golden eagle in a church Keep still Keep stillS
FOOL Give me a pennyO
THIRD PUPIL Is that the right cry for an eagle cockT
SECOND PUPIL I'll turn the pages you close your eyes and put your finger downU
THIRD PUPIL That's it and then he cannot blame us for the choiceQ
FIRST PUPIL There I have chosen Fool keep still and if what's wise is strange and sounds like nonsense we've made a good choiceQ
FIFTH PUPIL The Master has comeV
FOOL Will anybody give a penny to a fool One of the pupils draws back the stage curtain showing the Master sitting at his desk There is an hour glass upon his desk or in a bracket on the wall One pupil puts the book before himK
FIRST PUPIL We have chosen the passage for the lesson Master 'There are two living countries one visible and one invisible and when it is summer there it is winter here and when it is November with us it is lambing time there '-
WISE MAN That passage that passage what mischief has there been since yesterdayB
FIRST PUPIL None MasterW
WISE MAN Oh yes there has some craziness has fallen from the wind or risen from the graves of old men and made you choose that subjectX
FOURTH PUPIL I knew that it was folly but they would have itY
THIRD PUPIL Had we not better say we picked it by chanceZ
SECOND PUPIL No he would say we were children stillS
FIRST PUPIL I have found a sentence under that one that says as though to show it had a hidden meaning a beggar wrote it upon the walls of BabylonA2
WISE MAN Then find some beggar and ask him what it means for I will have nothing to do with itY
FOURTH PUPIL Come Teigue what is the old book's meaning when it says that there are sheep that drop their lambs in NovemberW
FOOL To be sure everybody knows everybody in the world knows when it is Spring with us the trees are withering there when it is Summer with us the snow is falling there and have I not myself heard the lambs that are there all bleating on a cold November day to be sure does not everybody with an intellect know that and maybe when it's night with us it is day with them for many a time I have seen the roads lighted before meO
WISE MAN The beggar who wrote that on Babylon wall meant that there is a spiritual kingdom that cannot be seen or known till the faculties whereby we master the kingdom of this world wither away like green things in winter A monkish thought the most mischievous thought that ever passed our of a man's mouthB2
FIRST PUPIL If he meant all that I will take an oath that he was spindle shanked and cross eyed and had a lousy itching shoulder and that his heart was crosser than his eyes and that he wrote it out of maliceC2
SECOND PUPIL Let's come away and find a better subjectX
FOURTH PUPIL Any maybe now you'll let me chooseD2
FIRST PUPIL ComeV
WISE MAN Were it but true 'twould alter everythingE2
Until the stream of the world had changed its courseF2
And that and all our thoughts had runA
Into some cloudy thunderous springE2
They dream to be its sourceF2
Aye to some frenzy of the mindG2
And all that we have done would be undoneA
Our speculation but as the windG2
A pauseH2
I have dreamed it twiceI2
FIRST PUPIL Something has troubled him Pupils go outJ2
WISE MAN Twice have I dreamed it in a morning dreamK2
Now nothing serves my pupils but to comeV
With a like thought Reason is growing dimK
A moment more and Frenzy will beat his drumV
And laugh aloud and screamK2
And I must dance in the dreamK2
No no but it is like a hawk a hawk of the airL2
It has swooped down and this swoop makes the thirdM2
And what can I but tremble like a birdM2
FOOL Give me a pennyO
WISE MAN That I should dream it twice and after that that they should pick it outJ2
FOOL Won't you give me a pennyO
WISE MAN What do you want What can it matter to you whether the words I am reading are wisdom or sheer follyO
FOOL Such a great wise teacher will not refuse a penny to a foolE
WISE MAN Seeing that everybody is a fool when he is asleep and dreaming why do you call me wiseN2
FOOL O I know I know I know what I have seenO2
WISE MAN Well to see rightly is the whole of wisdom whatever dream be with usC2
FOOL When I went by Kilcluan where the bells used to be ringing at the break of every day I could hear nothing but the people snoring in their houses When I went by Tubbervanach where the young men used to be climbing the hill to the blessed well they were sitting at the cross roads playing cards When I went by Carrigoras where the friars used to be fasting and serving the poor I saw them drinking wine and obeying their wives And when I asked what misfortune had brought all these changes they said it was no misfortune but that it was the wisdom they had learned from your teachingE2
WISE MAN And you too have called me wise you would be paid for that good opinion doubtless Run to the kitchen my wife will give you food and drinkP2
FOOL That's foolish advice for a wise man to giveQ2
WISE MAN Why FoolE
FOOL What is eaten is gone I want pennies for my bag I must buy bacon in the shops and nuts in the market and strong drink for the time the sun is weak and snares to catch the rabbits and the hares and a big pot to cook them inN
WISE MAN I have more to think about than giving pennies to your like so run awayB
FOOL Give me a penny and I will bring you luck The fishermen let me sleep among their nets in the loft because I bring them luck and in the summer time the wild creatures let me sleep near their nests and their holes It is lucky even to look at me but it is much more lucky to give me a penny If I was not lucky I would starveR2
WISE MAN What are the shears forS2
FOOL I won't tell you If I told you you would drive them awayB
WISE MAN Drive them away Who would I drive awayB
FOOL I won't tell youL
WISE MAN Not if I give you a pennyO
FOOL NoJ
WISE MAN Not if I give you two penniesT2
FOOL You will be very lucky if you give me two pennies but I won't tell youL
WISE MAN Three penniesT2
FOOL Four and I will tell youL
WISE MAN Very well four but from this out I will not call you Teigue the FoolE
FOOL Let me come close to you where nobody will hear me but first you must promise not to drive them away Wise Man nods Every day men go out dressed in black and spread great black nets over the hills great black netsU2
WISE MAN A strange place that to fish inN
FOOL They spread them out on the hills that they may catch the feet of the angels but every morning just before the dawn I go out and cut the nets with the shears and the angels fly awayB
WISE MAN Speaking with excitement Ah now I know that you are Teigue the Fool You say that I am wise and yet I say there are no angelsG
FOOL I have seen plenty of angelsG
WISE MAN No no you have notV2
FOOL They are plenty if you but look about you They are like the blades of grassW2
WISE MAN They are plenty as the blades of grass I heard that phrase when I was but a child and was told follyO
FOOL When one gets quiet When one is so quiet that there is not a thought in one's head maybe there is something that wakes up inside one something happy and quiet and then all in a minute one can smell summer flowers and tall people go by happy and laughing but they will not let us look at their faces Oh no it is not right that we should look at their facesX2
WISE MAN You have fallen asleep upon a hill yet even those that used to dream of angels dream now of other thingsY2
FOOL I saw one but a moment ago that is because I am lucky It was coming behind me but it was not laughingE2
WISE MAN There's nothing but what men can see when they are awake Nothing nothingE2
FOOL I knew you would drive them awayB
WISE MAN Pardon me FoolE
I had forgotten who I spoke toL
Well there are your four pennies Fool you are calledZ2
And all day long they cry 'Come hither Fool '-
The Fool goes close to himK
Or else it's 'Fool be gone '-
The Fool goes further offA3
Or 'Fool stand there '-
The Fool straightens himself upB3
Or 'Fool go sit in the corner '-
The Fool sits in the cornerW
And all the whileC3
What were they all but fools before I cameD3
What are they now but mirrors that seem menE3
Because of my image Fool hold up your headF3
Fool does soJ
What foolish stories they have told of the ghostsG3
That fumbled with the clothes upon the bedF3
Or creaked and shuffled in the corridorW
Or else if they were pious bredF3
Of angels from the skiesN2
That coming through the doorS2
Or it maybe standing thereL2
Would solidly out stareL2
The steadiest eyes with their unnatural eyesN2
Aye on a man's own floorS2
An angel has come in It should be played by a man if a man can be found with the right voice and may wear a little golden domino and a halo made of metal Or the whole face may be a beautiful mask in which case the last sentence on page should not be spokenA
Yet it is strange the strangest thing I have knownH3
That I should still be haunted by the notionA
That there's a crisis of the spirit whereinN
We get new sight and that they know some trickI3
To turn our thoughts for their own ends to frenzyO
Why do you put your finger to your lipJ3
And creep away Fool goes outJ2
Wise Man sees Angel What are you Who are youL
I think I saw some like you in my dreamsK3
When but a child That thing about your headF3
That brightness in your hair that flowery branchL3
But I have done with dreams I have done with dreamsK3
ANGEL I am the crafty one that you have calledZ2
WISE MAN How that I calledZ2
ANGEL I am the messengerW
WISE MAN What message could you bring to one like meO
ANGEL turning the hour glassW2
That you will die when the last grain of sandM3
Has fallen through this glassW2
WISE MAN I have a wifeD
Children and pupils that I cannot leaveN3
Why must I die my time is far awayB
ANGEL You have to die because no soul has passedO3
The heavenly threshold since you have opened schoolE
But grass grows there and rust upon the hingeP3
And they are lonely that must keep the watchQ3
WISE MAN And whither shall I go when I am deadF3
ANGEL You have denied there is a purgatoryO
Therefore that gate is closed you have deniedR3
There is a heaven and so that gate is closedS3
WISE MAN Where then For I have said there is no hellT3
ANGEL Hell is the place of those who have deniedR3
They find there what they planted and what dugU3
A Lake of Spaces and a Wood of NothingE2
And wander there and drift and never ceaseV3
Wailing for substanceW3
WISE MAN Pardon me blessed AngelF
I have denied and taught the like to othersX3
But how could I believe before my sightY3
Had come to meO
ANGEL It is too late for pardonA
WISE MAN Had I but met your gaze as now I met itY
But how can you that live but where we goJ
In the uncertainty of dizzy dreamsK3
Know why we doubt Parting sickness and deathZ3
The rotting of the grass tempest and drouthZ3
These are the messengers that came to meO
Why are you silent You carry in your handsA4
God's pardon and you will not give it meO
Why are you silent Were I not afraidB4
I'd kiss your hands no no the hem of your dressC4
ANGEL Only when all the world has testifiedR3
May soul confound it crying out in joyD4
And laughing on its lonely precipiceC2
What's dearth and death and sickness to the soulE4
That knows no virtue but itself Nor could itY
So trembling with delight and mother nakedF4
Live unabashed if the arguing world stood byG4
WISE MAN It is as hard for you to understandM3
Why we have doubted as it is for usC2
To banish doubt what folly have I saidF3
There can be nothing that you do not knowJ
Give me a year a month a week a dayB
I would undo what I have done an hourW
Give me until the sand has run in the glassW2
ANGEL Though you may not undo what you have doneA
I have this power if you but find one soulE4
Before the sands have fallen that still believesH4
One fish to lie and spawn among the stonesI4
Till the great fisher's net is full againE3
You may the purgatorial fire being passedO3
Spring to your peace Pupils sing in the distanceW3
'Who stole your wits awayB
And where are they gone '-
WISE MAN My pupils comeV
Before you have begun to climb the skyG4
I shall have found that soul They say the doubtJ2
But what their mothers dinned into their earsJ4
Cannot have been so lightly rooted upB3
Besides I can disprove what I once provedK4
And yet give me some thought some argumentL4
More mighty than my ownH3
ANGEL Farewell farewellT3
For I am weary of the weight of timeM4
Angel goes out Wise Man makes a step to follow and pauses Some of his pupils come in at the other side of the stageN4
FIRST PUPIL Master master you must choose the subject Enter other pupils with Fool about whom they dance all the pupils may have little cushions on which they seat themselvesO4
SECOND PUPIL Here is a subject where have the Fool's wits gone singingE2
'Who dragged your wits awayB
Where no one knowsP4
Or have they run offA3
On their own pair of shoes '-
FOOL Give me a pennyO
FIRST PUPIL The Master will find your witsQ4
SECOND PUPIL And when they are found you must not beg for penniesT2
THIRD PUPIL They are hidden somewhere in the badger's holeE4
But you must carry an old candle endR4
If you would find themS4
FOURTH PUPIL They are up above the cloudsT4
FOOL Give me a penny give me a pennyO
FIRST PUPIL singing 'I'll find your wits againE3
Come for I saw them rollE4
To where old badger mumblesG
In the black hole '-
SECOND PUPIL singing 'No but an angel stole themS4
The night that you were bornU4
And now they are but a ragV4
On the moon's horn '-
WISE MAN Be silentL4
FIRST PUPIL Can you not see that he is troubled All the pupils are seatedF4
WISE MAN What do you think of when alone at nightY3
Do not the things your mothers spoke aboutJ2
Before they took the candle from the bedsideR3
Rush up into the mind and master itY
Till you believe in them against your willS
SECOND PUPIL to first pupil You answer for usC2
THIRD PUPIL in a whisper to first pupil Be careful what you sayB
If he persuades you to an argumentL4
He will but turn us all to mockeryO
FIRST PUPIL We had no minds until you made them for usC2
Our bodies only were our mother's workW4
WISE MAN You answer with incredible things It is certainA
That there is one though it may be but oneA
Believes in God and in some heaven and hellT3
In all those things we put into our prayersX4
FIRST PUPIL We thought those things before our minds were bornU4
But that was long ago we are not childrenA
WISE MAN You are afraid to tell me what you thinkP2
Because I am hot and angry when I am crossedY4
I do not blame you for it but have no fearZ4
For if there's one that sat on smiling thereL2
As though my arguments were sweet as milk
Yet found them bitter I will thank him for itY
If he but speak his mindG2
FIRST PUPIL There is no one MasterW
There is not one but found them sweet as milk
WISE MAN The things that have been told us in our childhood
Are not so fragileF
SECOND PUPIL We are no longer childrenA
THIRD PUPIL We all believe in you and in what you have taught
OTHER PUPILS All all all all in you nothing but youL
WISE MAN I have deceived you where shall I go for words
I have no thoughts my mind has been swept bareL2
The messengers that stand in the fiery cloud
Fling themselves out if we but dare to questionA
And after that the Babylonian moon
Blots all awayB
FIRST PUPIL to other pupils I take his words to meanO2
That visionaries and martyrs when they are raised
Above translunary things and there enlightened
As the contention is may lose the lightY3
And flounder in their speech when the eyes openA
SECOND PUPIL How well he imitates their trick of speech
THIRD PUPIL Their air of mysteryO
FOURTH PUPIL Their empty gaze
As though they'd looked upon some winged thingE2
And would not condescend to mankind afterW
FIRST PUPIL Master we have all learnt that truth is learnt
When the intellect's deliberate and cold
As it were a polished mirror that reflects
An unchanged world and not when the steel melts
Bubbling and hissing till there's naught but fume
WISE MAN When it is melted when it all fumes upB3
They walk as when beside those three in the furnaceC2
The form of the fourthZ3
FIRST PUPIL Master there's none among usC2
That has not heard your mockery of theseT2
Or thoughts like these and we have not forgotV2
WISE MAN Something incredible has happened some one has comeV
Suddenly like a grey hawk out of the airL2
And all that I declared untrue is trueL
FIRST PUPIL to other pupils You'd think the way he says it that he felt itY
There's not a mummer to compare with himK
He's something like a manC
SECOND PUPIL Give us some proof
WISE MAN What proof have I to give but that an angelF
An instant ago was standing on that spot The pupils riseN2
THIRD PUPIL You dreamed itY
WISE MAN I was awake as I am now
FIRST PUPIL to the othersX3
I may be dreaming now for all I knowJ
He wants to show we have no certain proof
Of anything in the world
SECOND PUPIL There is this proof
That shows we are awake we have all one world
While every dreamer has a world of his ownH3
And sees what no one else canC
THIRD PUPIL Teigue sees angelsG
So when the Master says he has seen an angelF
He may have seen oneA
FIRST PUPIL Both may still be dreamersX3
Unless it's proved the angels were alike
SECOND PUPIL What sort are the angels Teigue
THIRD PUPIL That will prove nothing
Unless we are sure prolonged obedienceW3
Has made one angel like another angelF
As they were eggs
FIRST PUPIL The Master's silent now
For he has found that to dispute with usC2
Seeing that he has taught us what we knowJ
Is but to reason with himself Let us awayB
And find if there is one believer left
WISE MAN Yes yes Find me but one that still believesH4
The things that we were told when we were childrenA
THIRD PUPIL He'll mock and maul himK
FOURTH PUPIL From the first I knewL
He wanted somebody to argue with They goJ
WISE MAN I have no reason left All dark all dark
Pupils return laughing They push forward fourth pupilF
FIRST PUPIL Here Master is the very man you want
He said when we were studying the book
That maybe after all the monks were rightY3
And you mistaken and if we but gave him timeM4
He'd prove that it was soJ
FOURTH PUPIL I never said itY
WISE MAN Dear friend dear friend do you believe in God
FOURTH PUPIL Master they have invented this to mock meO
WISE MAN You are afraid of meO
FOURTH PUPIL They know well MasterW
That all I said was but to make them argueL
They've pushed me in to make a mock of meO
Because they knew I could take either sideR3
And beat them at itY
WISE MAN If you believe in God
You are my soul's one friend Pupils laugh
Mistress or wifeD
Can give us but our good or evil luck
Amid the howling world but you shall giveQ2
Eternity and those sweet throated thingsY2
That drift above the moon
The pupils look at one another and are silentL4
SECOND PUPIL How strange he isP
WISE MAN The angel that stood there upon that spotV2
Said that my soul was lost unless I found outJ2
One that believed
FOURTH PUPIL Cease mocking at me MasterW
For I am certain that there is no God
Nor immortality and they that said itY
Made a fantastic tale from a starved dreamK2
To plague our hearts Will that content you MasterW
WISE MAN The giddy glass is emptier every momentL4
And you stand there debating laughing and wrangling
Out of my sight Out of my sight I say He drives them outJ2
I'll call my wife for what can women doL
That carry us in the darkness of their bodiesT2
But mock the reason that lets nothing growJ
Unless it grow in light Bridget Bridget
A woman never ceases to believeN3
Say what we will Bridget come quickly Bridget
Bridget comes in wearing her apron Her sleeves turned up from her arms which are covered with flourW
Wife what do you believe in Tell me the truthZ3
And not as is the habit with you all
Something you think will please me Do you prayB
Sometimes when you're alone in the house do you prayB
BRIDGET Prayers no you taught me to leave them off long ago At first I was sorry but I am glad now for I am sleepy in the eveningsY2
WISE MAN Do you believe in God
BRIDGET Oh a good wife only believes in what her husband tells herW
WISE MAN But sometimes when the children are asleep
And I am in the school do you not think
About the Martyrs and the saints and the angelsG
And all the things that you believed in onceW3
BRIDGET I think about nothing sometimes I wonder if the linen is bleaching white or I go out to see if the crows are picking up the chicken's food
WISE MAN My God my God I will go out myself
My pupils said that they would find a manC
Whose faith I never shook they may have found himK
Therefore I will go out but if I goJ
The glass will let the sands run out unseenO2
I cannot go I cannot leave the glassW2
Go call my pupils I can explain all now
Only when all our hold on life is troubled
Only in spiritual terror can the TruthZ3
Come through the broken mind as the pease burst
Out of a broken pease cod
He clutches Bridget as she is going
Say to themS4
That Nature would lack all in her most need
Could not the soul find truth as in a flash
Upon the battle field or in the midst
Of overwhelming waves and say to themS4
But no they would but answer as I bid
BRIDGET You want somebody to get up an argument withZ3
WISE MAN Look out and see if there is any oneA
There in the street I cannot leave the glassW2
For somebody might shake it and the sandM3
If it were shaken might run down on the instantL4
BRIDGET I don't understand a word you are saying There's a crowd of people talking to your pupilsG
WISE MAN Go out and find if they have found a manC
Who did not understand me when I taught
Or did not listenA
BRIDGET It is a hard thing to be married to a man of learning that must always be having arguments She goes outJ2
WISE MAN Strange that I should be blind to the great secret
And that so simple a man might write it outJ2
Upon a blade of grass with the juice of a berryO
And laugh and cry because it was so simpleF
Enter Bridget followed by the FoolE
FOOL Give me something give me a penny to buy bacon in the shops and nuts in the market and strong drink for the time when the sun is weak
BRIDGET I have no pennies To Wise Man Your pupils cannot find anybody to argue with you There's nobody in the whole country with belief enough for a lover's oath Can't you be quiet now and not always wanting to have arguments It must be terrible to have a mind like thatI
WISE MAN Then I am lost indeed
BRIDGET Leave me alone now I have to make the bread for you and the children She goes into kitchenA
WISE MAN Children childrenA
BRIDGET Your father wants you run to him Children run inN
WISE MAN Come to me children Do not be afraidB4
I want to know if you believe in HeavenA
God or the soul no do not tell me yet
You need not be afraid I shall be angryO
Say what you please so that it is your thought
I wanted you to know before you spoke
That I shall not be angryO
FIRST CHILD We have not forgotten FatherW
SECOND CHILD Oh no FatherW
BOTH CHILDREN As if repeating a lesson There is nothing we cannot see nothing we cannot touch
FIRST CHILD Foolish people used to say that there was but you have taught us betterW
WISE MAN Go to you mother go yet do not goJ
What can she say If am dumb you are lostY4
And yet because the sands are running outJ2
I have but a moment to show it all in ChildrenA
The sap would die out of the blades of grassW2
Had they a doubt They understand it all
Being the fingers of God's certaintyO
Yet can but make their sign into the airL2
But could they find their tongues they'd show it all
But what am I to say that am but oneA
When they are millions and they will not speak
Children have run outJ2
But they are gone what made them run awayB
The Fool comes in with a dandelionA
Look at me tell me if my face is changed
Is there a notch of the fiend's nail upon itY
Already Is it terrible to sightY3
Because the moment's near Going to glassW2
I dare not look
I dare not know the moment when they comeV
No no I dare not Covers glass Will there be a footfall
Or will there be a sort of rending sound
Or else a cracking as though an iron claw
Had gripped the threshold stoneH3
Fool has begun to blow the dandelionA
What are you doing
FOOL Wait a minute four five six
WISE MAN What are you doing that forS2
FOOL I am blowing the dandelion to find out what hour it isP
WISE MAN You have heard everything and that is whyG4
You'd find what hour it is you'd find that outJ2
That you may look upon a fleet of devilsG
Dragging my soul away You shall not stop
I will have no one here when they come inN
I will have no one sitting there no oneA
And yet and yet there is something strange about youL
I half remember something What is itY
Do you believe in God and in the soulE4
FOOL So you ask me now I thought when you were asking your pupils 'Will he ask Teigue the Fool Yes he will he will no he will not yes he will ' But Teigue will say nothing Teigue will say nothing
WISE MAN Tell me quicklyO
FOOL I said 'Teigue knows everything not even the green eyed cats and the hares that milk the cows have Teigue's wisdom' but Teigue will not speak he says nothing
WISE MAN Speak speak for underneath the cover thereL2
The sand is running from the upper glassW2
And when the last grain's through I shall be lostY4
FOOL I will not speak I will not tell you what is in my mind I will not tell you what is in my bag You might steal away my thoughts I met a bodach on the road yesterday and he said 'Teigue tell me how many pennies are in your bag I will wager three pennies that there are not twenty pennies in your bag let me put in my hand and count them ' But I gripped the bag the tighter and when I go to sleep at night I hide the bag where nobody knowsP4
WISE MAN There's but one pinch of sand and I am lostY4
If you are not he I seek
FOOL O what a lot the Fool knows but he says nothing
WISE MAN Yes I remember now You spoke of angelsG
You said but now that you had seen an angelF
You are the one I seek and I am saved
FOOL Oh no How could poor Teigue see angels Oh Teigue tells one tale here another there and everybody gives him pennies If Teigue had not his tales he would starve He breaks away and goes outJ2
WISE MAN The last hope is gone
And now that it's too late I see it all
We perish into God and sink awayB
Into reality the rest's a dreamK2
The Fool comes back
FOOL There was one there there by the threshold stone waiting there and he said 'Go in Teigue and tell him everything that he asks you He will give you a penny if you tell him '-
WISE MAN I know enough that know God's will prevails
FOOL Waiting till the moment had come That is what the one out there was saying but I might tell you what you asked That is what he was saying
WISE MAN Be silent May God's will prevail on the instantL4
Although His will be my eternal pain
I have no questionA
It is enough I know what fixed the stationA
Of star and cloud
And knowing all I cryG4
That what so God has willed
On that instant be fulfilled
Though that be my damnationA
The stream of the world has changed its courseF2
And with the stream my thoughts have runA
Into some cloudy thunderous spring
That is its mountain sourceF2
Aye to some frenzy of the mindG2
For all that we have done's undoneA
Our speculation but as the wind He diesN2
FOOL Wise man Wise man wake up and I will tell you everything for a penny It is I poor Teigue the Fool Why don't you wake up and say 'There is a penny for you Teigue' No no you will say nothing You and I we are the two fools we know everything but we will not speak Angel enters holding a casket
-
O look what has come from his mouth O look what has come from his mouth the white butterfly He is dead and I have taken his soul in my hands but I know why you open the lid of that golden box I must give it to you There then he puts butterfly in casket he has gone through his pains and you will open the lid in the Garden of Paradise He closes curtain and remains outside it He is gone he is gone he is gone but come in everybody in the world and look at meO
'I hear the wind a blowJ
I hear the grass a growJ
And all that I know I know '-
But I will not speak I will run awayB
He goes outJ2

William Butler Yeats



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