Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Supernatural Songs (Author: William Butler Yeats)

part 12

Meru

1. Civilisation is hooped together, brought
   Under a rule, under the semblance of peace
   By manifold illusion; but man's life is thought,
   And he, despite his terror, cannot cease
   Ravening through century after century,
   Ravening, raging, and uprooting that he may come
   Into the desolation of reality:
   Egypt and Greece, good-bye, and good-bye, Rome!
   Hermits upon Mount Meru or Everest,
   Caverned in night under the drifted snow,
   Or where that snow and winter's dreadful blast
   Beat down upon their naked bodies, know
   That day brings round the night, that before dawn
   His glory and his monuments are gone.