"Time to put off the world and go somewhere
And find my health again in the sea air,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And make my soul before my pate is bare."
"And get a comfortable wife and house
To rid me of the devil in my shoes,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And the worse devil that is between my thighs."
"And though I'd marry with a comely lass,
She need not be too comely--let it pass,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"But there's a devil in a looking-glass."
"Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And cannot have a humorous happy speech,"
"And there I'll grow respected at my ease,
and hear amid the garden's nightly peace,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"The wind-blown clamour of the barnacle-geese."
A harmoniously, hideously, hilariously humorous poem-- absolutely comical to the highest degree!
The poem, re-written in prose form, would probably run like this:
One beggar, struck by his frenzy, cried to another....
The rest is really quite easy! (Come, Izzy, U shouldn't rely on Dad to do the translation all the time!)
Discussion:
The lines that make one laugh the hardest are probably the following:
1. "Time to put off the world and go somewhere
And find my health again in the sea air,"
When a beggar thinks like a millionaire, there is a problem, obviously...
2. "And get a comfortable wife...
To rid me of...the worse devil that is between my thighs."
It seems likely that the poor dude cannot afford a single issue of Playboy to quench his thirst! Imagine the torment he recieves from that "worse devil" that is between his thighs!
3. " Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,"
" And cannot have a humorous happy speech."
Aha! the rich are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch! How true!!!
Seriously,when was the last time you saw the First Lady have a humorous happy speech? Each time Laura Bush stands by her man giving that killer "Love George" pose, one fancies W might just as well use a Barbie Doll to proclaim his redneckry and his wretchedly weird cowboy a-la-Texas- style manhood.
Folks: now that we have done our share laughing at the beggar,and/or the Commander-in-Chief, it's time to think again!
Yeats might just be laughing at you,--indeed, all of us !
(Are you not stricken by the poverty of the soul?)
In that sense, you can be the target of Yeats' mirth,too!
Ben Taishing
', 'Don