Towards Break Of Day
July 6, 2023Tom At Cruachan
July 6, 2023Tom O’Roughley
“THOUGH logic-choppers rule the town,
And every man and maid and boy
Has marked a distant object down,
An aimless joy is a pure joy,’
Or so did Tom O’Roughley say
That saw the surges running by.
“And wisdom is a butterfly
And not a gloomy bird of prey.
“If little planned is little sinned
But little need the grave distress.
What’s dying but a second wind?
How but in zig-zag wantonness
Could trumpeter Michael be so brave?’
Or something of that sort he said,
“And if my dearest friend were dead
I’d dance a measure on his grave.’
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish poet, playwright, and political activist who was one of the most important figures of the Irish literary revival. He is known for his use of Irish mythology and for his exploration of the themes of love, death, and rebirth. His most famous works include "The Tower" and "The Wild Swans at Coole." Yeats was also a senator in the Irish Free State and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.