---

William Butler Yeats - The Shadowy Waters: The Shadowy Waters
Work rating: Low

1 2 
     Will look upon his face again.

                                   [The Sailors go out.]

Forgael [to Dectora], Go with him,
     For he will shelter you and bring you home.

Aibric [taking Forgael’s hand]. I’ll do it for his sake.

Dectora. No.  Take this sword
     And cut the rope, for I go on with Forgael.

Aibric [half falling into the keen]. The yew-bough has been
     broken into two,
     And all the birds are scattered—O! O! O!
     Farewell! farewell! [He goes out.]

Dectora. The sword is in the rope—
     The rope’s in two—it falls into the sea,
     It whirls into the foam.  O ancient worm,
     Dragon that loved the world and held us to it,
     You are broken, you are broken.  The world drifts
          away,
     And I am left alone with my beloved,
     Who cannot put me from his sight for ever.
     We are alone for ever, and I laugh,
     Forgael, because you cannot put me from you.
     The mist has covered the heavens, and you and I
     Shall be alone for ever.  We two—this crown—
     I half remember.  It has been in my dreams.
     Bend lower, O king, that I may crown you with it.
     O flower of the branch, 0 bird among the leaves,
     O silver fish that my two hands have taken
     Out of the running stream, O morning star
     Trembling in the blue heavens like a white fawn
     Upon the misty border of the wood,
     Bend lower, that I may cover you with my hair,
     For we will gaze upon this world no longer.

Forgael [gathering Dectora’s hair about him]. Beloved, hav-
     ing dragged the net about us,
     And knitted mesh to mesh, we grow immortal;
     And that old harp awakens of itself
     To cry aloud to the grey birds, and dreams,
     That have had dreams for father, live in us.
Source
The script ran 0.002 seconds.