Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Beggar to Beggar Cried (Author: William Butler Yeats)

p.47

1. 'Time to put off the world and go somewhere
   And find my health again in the sea air,'
   Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzystruck,
   'And make my soul before my pate is bare.'
2. 'And get a comfortable wife and house
   To rid me of the devil in my shoes,'
   Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzystruck,
   'And the worse devil that is between my thighs.'
3. 'And though I'd marry with a comely lass,

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   p.48

   She need not be too comely—let it pass,'
   Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzystruck,
   'But there's a devil in a looking-glass.'
4. 'Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
   Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,'
   Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzystruck,
   'And cannot have a humorous happy speech.'
5. 'And there I'll grow respected at my ease,
   And hear amid the garden's nightly peace'
   Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzystruck,
   'The wind-blown clamor of the barnacle-geese.'