The Wind Among the Reeds/The Valley of the Black Pig

by William Butler Yeats

THE VALLEY OF THE BLACK PIG^[1]

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 armies beat about my ears.
We who still labour by the cromlec 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.

1. Notes