A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
William Butler Yeats
Leda and the Swan, 1963 by Cy Twombly
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Ah, Yeats. One of the 'loves' of my life!
ReplyDeleteamazing drawing and fabulous poem. was it really that long ago! yikes. for some reason i thought he was still tottering around when i was on this earth, but no. a powerful man.
ReplyDeletethank you for commemorating poets on their birthdays/death days.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure Suki...
DeleteThis was a pleasant surprise. Haven’t read this till now.
ReplyDeletebeautiful
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBlogger would not allow me to post my comment, so sorry! Technology often escapes me. Yeats, such a favourite and what gifts he left to us.
DeleteA birth of words (poems) through drawings of little fingers (I guess that's the one that drew it )
ReplyDeletePerfect !
Happy belated birthday, Mr. Yates!
ReplyDeleteI really like the graphic.
ReplyDeleteNever read this poem in high school --- unfortunately.
Nice
can not get the meaning, but thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletePerhaps writing about sex - among other things - was permissible if you dressed it in mythology.
ReplyDeleteIt's powerful, all the same.
i'm reminded, in reading the great poets, of how much poetry is hiding from our world today. i have to seek it out. thank you for providing a place for me to find it. Namaste'
ReplyDeletea handful of pencils and 100 sheets of foolscap
ReplyDeletebundled into a package, tied with ribbon.
see that he gets it, ok?
I'll make sure he gets it...
DeleteHaven't read this before, but it's interesting.
ReplyDeleteI love Yeats' poetry.
Incidentally, he attended the same high school that my kids now go to!