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William Butler Yeats - Michael Robartes And The Dancer
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He. Opinion is not worth a rush; 
In this altar-piece the knight, 
Who grips his long spear so to push 
That dragon through the fading light, 
Loved the lady; and it`s plain 
The half-dead dragon was her thought, 
That every morning rose again 
And dug its claws and shrieked and fought. 
Could the impossible come to pass 
She would have time to turn her eyes, 
Her lover thought, upon the glass 
And on the instant would grow wise.

She. You mean they argued.

He.                                      Put it so; 
But bear in mind your lover`s wage 
Is what your looking-glass can show, 
And that he will turn green with rage 
At all that is not pictured there.

She. May I not put myself to college?

He. Go pluck Athena by the hair; 
For what mere book can grant a knowledge 
With an impassioned gravity 
Appropriate to that beating breast, 
That vigorous thigh, that dreaming eye? 
And may the devil take the rest.

She. And must no beautiful woman be 
Learned like a man?

He.                          Paul Veronese 
And all his sacred company 
Imagined bodies all their days 
By the lagoon you love so much, 
For proud, soft, ceremonious proof 
That all must come to sight and touch; 
While Michael Angelo`s Sistine roof 
His `Morning` and his `Night` disclose 
How sinew that has been pulled tight, 
Or it may be loosened in repose, 
Can rule by supernatural right 
Yet be but sinew.

She.                    I have heard said 
There is great danger in the body.

He. Did God in portioning wine and bread 
Give man His thought or His mere body?

She. My wretched dragon is perplexed.

He. I have principles to prove me right. 
It follows from this Latin text 
That blest souls are not composite, 
And that all beautiful women may 
Live in uncomposite blessedness, 
And lead us to the like — if they 
Will banish every thought, unless 
The lineaments that please their view 
When the long looking-glass is full, 
Even from the foot-sole think it too.

She. They say such different things at school.
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