The green helmet, and other poems

•

THE

GREEN HELMET

AND OTHER POEMS

^ W B YEATS

•

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University of California • Berkeley

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THE GREEN HELMET AND
OTHER POEMS

THE GREEN HELMET AND '
OTHER POEMS

I
I
i
I

BY

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

NEW YORK

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.

1912

All rigJits reserved

Copyriglit, 1911, by
William Butlee Ykats

Copyright, 1912, by
The ^Iacmillan Oo.

Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912

THE GREEN HELMET AND
OTHEE POEMS

HIS DREAM

I swayed upon the gaudy stern
The butt end of a steering oar,
And everywhere that I could turn
Men ran upon the shore.

And though I would have hushed the

crowd
There was no mother *s son but said,
* ^ What is the figure in a shroud
Upon a gaudy bed 1 ' *

And fishes bubbling to the brim
Cried out upon that thing beneath,
It had such dignity of limb,
By the sweet name of Death.

2 HIS DBEAM

Though I 'd my finger on my lip,
What could I but take up the song?
And fish and crowd and gaudy ship
Cried out the whole night long,

Crying amid the glittering sea.
Naming it with ecstatic breath.
Because it had such dignity
By the sweet name of Death.

A WOMAN HOMER SUNG

If any man drew near

When I was young,

I thought, '^He holds her dear,'*

And shook with hate and fear.

But oh, 't was bitter wrong

If he could pass her by

With an indifferent eye.

Whereon I wrote and wrought,
And now, being gray,
I dream that I have brought
To such a pitch my thought
That coming time can say,
**He shadowed in a glass
What thing her body was.''

A WOMAN HOMER SUNG

For she had fiery blood

i

When I was young,

■j

And trod so sweetly proud

j

1

As 't were upon a cloud,

A woman Homer sung,

1

That life and letters seem

1

But an heroic dream.

i

i

\
1

THAT THE NIGHT COME

She lived in storm and strife.
Her soul had such desire
For what proud death may bring
That it could not endure
The common good of life,
But lived as 't were a king
That packed his marriage day
With banneret and pennon,
Trumpet and kettledrum,
And the outrageous cannon,
To bundle Time away
That the night come.

THE CONSOLATION

I had this thought awhile ago,
^^My darling cannot understand
What I have done, or what would do
In this blind bitter land.''

And I grew weary of the sun
Until my thoughts cleared up again,
Eemembering that the best I have done
Was done to make it plain ;

That every year I have cried, ^* At length
My darling understands it all.
Because I have come into my strength.
And words obey my call."

6

THE CONSOLATION 7

That had she done so who can say
What would have shaken from the sieve ?
I might have thrown poor words away
And been content to live.

FEIENDS

Now must I these three praise—
Three women that have wrought
What joy is in my days ;
One that no passing thought,
Nor those unpassing cares,
No, not in these fifteen
Many times troubled years.
Could ever come between
Heart and delighted heart ;
And one because her hand
Had strength that could unbind
What none can understand,
What none can have and thrive,
Youth's dreamy load, till she

8

FRIENDS 9

So changed me that I live
Labouring in ecstasy.
And what of her that took
All till my youth was gone
With scarce a pitying look ?
How should I praise that one f
When day begins to break
I count my good and bad,
Being wakeful for her sake,
Remembering what she had,
What eagle look still shows.
While up from my hearths root
So great a sweetness flows
I shake from head to foot.

NO SECOND TROY

Why should I blame her that she filled
my days

With misery, or that she would of late

Have taught to ignorant men most vio-
lent ways,

Or hurled the little streets upon the
great,

Had they but courage equal to desire ?

What could have made her peaceful with
a mind

That nobleness made simple as a fire.

With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind

That is not natural in an age like this,

Being high and solitary and most stern?

Why, what could she have done being
what she is ?

Was there another Troy for her to burn?

10

KECONCILIATION

Some may have blamed you that you took

away
The verses that could move them on the

day
When, the ears being deafened, the sight

of the eyes blind
With lightning you went from me, and I

could find
Nothing to make a song about but kings,
Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten

things
That were like memories of you— but

now

We ^11 out, for the world lives as long ago ;

11

12 BECONCILIATION

And while we 're in our laughing, weep-
ing fit,

Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into
the pit.

But, dear, cling close to me ; since you
were gone,

My barren thoughts have chilled me to
the bone.

KING AND NO KING

' ^ Would it were anything but merely

voice!"
The No King cried who after that was

King,
Because he had not heard of anything
That balanced with a word is more

than noise ;
Yet Old Romance being kind, let him

prevail
Somewhere or somehow that I have

forgot,
Though he 'd but cannon— Whereas

we that had thought
To have lit upon as clean and sweet a

tale

13

14 KING AND NO KING

Have been defeated by that pledge you
gave

In momentary anger long ago ;

And I that have not your faith, how
shall I know

That in the blinding light beyond the
grave

We '11 find so good a thing as that we
have lost?

The hourly kindness, the day's com-
mon speech.

The habitual content of each with each

When neither soul nor body has been
crossed.

THE COLD HEAVEN

Suddenly I saw the cold and rook de-
lighting Heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and

was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart

were driven
So wild, that every casual thought of

that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that

should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love

crossed long ago ;
And I took all the blame out of all sense

and reason,

16

16 TEE COLD HEAVEN

Until I cried and trembled and rocked to
and fro,

Eiddled with light. Ah ! when the ghost
begins to quicken,

Confusion of the death-bed over, is it
sent

Out naked on the roads, as the books say,
and stricken

By the injustice of the skies for punish-
ment?

PEACE

Ah, that Time could touch a form
That could show what Homer's age
Bred to be a hero's wage.
*^Were not all her life but storm,
Would not painters paint a form
Of such noble lines'' I said.
* * Such a delicate high head,
So much sternness and such charm,
Till they had changed us to like

strength?"
Ah, but peace that comes at length,
Came when Time had touched her form.

17 !

AGAINST UNWOETHY PEAISE

O heart, be at peace, because
Nor knave nor dolt can break
What 's not for their applause.
Being for a woman 's sake.
Enough if the work has seemed.
So did she your strength renew,
A dream that a lion had dreamed
Till the wilderness cried aloud,
A secret between you two.
Between the proud and the proud.

What, still you would have their praise !

But here 's a haughtier text.

The labyrinth of her days

That her own strangeness perplexed ;

18

AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE 19

And how what her dreaming gave
Earned slander, ingratitude,
From self-same dolt and knave ;
Aye, and worse wrong than these.
Yet she, singing upon her road,
Half lion, half child, is at peace.

THE FASCINATION OF WHAT 'S
DIFFICULT

The fascination of what 's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and

rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart. There ^s something

ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood,
Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to

cloud.
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and

jolt
As though it dragged road metal. My

curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,

20

FASCINATION OF WHAT 'S DIFFICULT Zl

On the day ^s war with every knave and

dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round

again

I '11 find the stable and pull out the bolt.

A DEINKING SONG

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye ;
That 's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

99

THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH

TIME

Though leaves are many, the root is one ;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the

sun;
Now I may wither into the truth.

23

ON HEARING THAT THE STU-
DENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVER-
SITY HAVE JOINED THE AN-
CIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS
AND THE AGITATION AGAINST
IMMORAL LITERATURE

Where, where but here have Pride and

Truth,
That long to give themselves for wage,
To shake their wicked sides at youth
Restraining reckless middle-age.

24

TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME
PRAISE CEETAIN BAD POETS,
IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE

You say, as I have often given tongue
In praise of what another 's said or sung,
'T were politic to do the like by these ;
But where 's the wild dog that has
praised his fleas ?

25

THE ATTACK ON THE
^^PLAY BOY''

Once, when midnight smote the air,
Eunuchs ran through Hell and met
Eound about Hell's gate, to stare
At great Juan riding by,
And like these to rail and sweat,
Maddened by that sinewy thigh.

26

A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED

PLAY

' ^ Put off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes.''

* ^ 0 no, my dear, you make so bold

To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold. ' '

' * I would but find what 's there to find,

Love or deceit.''
^ ^ It was the mask engaged your mind,

And after set your heart to beat.

Not what 's behind."

* ^ But lest you are my enemy,

I must enquire. ' '
^ ^ 0 no, my dear, let all that be.
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me ? "

27

UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY
THE LAND AGITATION

How should the world be luckier if this

house,
Where passion and precision have been

one
Time out of mind, became too ruinous
To breed the lidless eye that loves the

sun?
And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts

that grow
Where wings have memory of wings,

and all
That comes of the best knit to the best?

Although
Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its

fall,

28

HOUSE SHAKEN BY LAND AGITATION 29

How should their luck run high enough

to reach
The gifts that govern men, and after

these
To gradual Time's last gift, a written

speech
Wrought of high laughter, loveliness

and ease?

AT THE ABBEY THEATEE

Imitated from Ronsard

Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our
case.

When we are high and airy hundreds say

That if we hold that flight they '11 leave
the place,

While those same hundreds mock an-
other day

Because we have made our art of com-
mon things,

So bitterly, you 'd dream they longed
to look

All their lives through into some drift
of wings.

o

0

AT THE ABBEY THEATRE 31

You 've dandled them and fed them from

the book
And know them to the bone ; impart

to us—
We '11 keep the secret— a new trick to

please.
Is there a bridle for this Proteus
That turns and changes like his draughty

seas?
Or is there none, most popular of men,
But when they mock us that we mock

again?

THESE AEE THE CLOUDS

These are the clouds about the fallen sun,

The majesty that shuts his burning eye ;

The weak lay hand on what the strong
has done,

Till that be tumbled that was lifted high

And discord follow upon unison.

And all things at one common level lie.

And therefore, friend, if your great race
were run

And these things came, so much the more
thereby

Have you made greatness your com-
panion,

Although it be for children that you
sigh:

These are the clouds about the fallen sun,

The majesty that shuts his burning eye.

32

AT GALWAY RACES

Out yonder, where the race course is,
Delight makes all of the one mind,
Riders upon the swift horses,
The field that closes in behind :
We, too, had good attendance once,
Hearers and hearteners of the work ;
Aye, horsemen for companions.
Before the merchant and the clerk
Breathed on the world with timid breath.
Sing on : sometime, and at some new

moon,
We ^11 learn that sleeping is not death,
Hearing the whole earth change its tune,
Its flesh being wild, and it again
Crying aloud as the race course is.
And we find hearteners among men
That ride upon horses.

33

A FRIEND'S ILLNESS i

Sickness brought me this ;

,i

Thought, in that scale of his : ;

AVhy should I be dismayed i

Though flame had burned the whole i

World, as it were a coal, ;

Now I have seen it weighed

Against a soul!

34

ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME

All things can tempt me from this craft
of verse :

One time it was a woman's face, or
worse—

The seeming needs of my fool-driven
land;

Now nothing but comes readier to the
hand

Than this accustomed toil. When I was
young,

I had not given a penny for a song

Did not the poet sing it with such airs

That one believed he had a sword up-
stairs ;

35

i

36 ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME

Yet would be now, could I but have my

wish,
Colder and dumber and deafer than a

fish.

THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG

I whispered, ^^I am too young/'
And then, ''I am old enough,''
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love ;
' ^ Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair, ' '
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

Oh love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it.
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away,
And the shadows eaten the moon ;
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny.
One cannot begin it too soon.

37

THE GREEN HELMET
An Heroic Farce

the persons of the play
Laegaire Laegaire 's Wife

CONALL CoNALL's WiFE

CucHULAiN Laeg, Cuckulaiu^s

Emer chariot-driver

Eed Man, A Spirit

Horse Boys and Scullions,
Black Men, etc.

THE GREEN HELMET

An Heroic Farce

Scene: A house made of logs. There
are two windows at the back and a door
which cuts off one of the corners of the
room. Through the door one can see low
rocks which make the ground outside
higher than it is within, and beyond the
rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the
windows one can see nothing but the sea.
There is a great chair at the opposite
side to the door, and in front of it a table
with cups and a flagon of ale. Here and
there are stools.

At the Abbey Theatre the house is
orange red and the chairs and tables and
flagons black, with a slight purple tinge
which is not clearly distinguishable from
the black. The rocks are black with a
feiv green touches. The sea is green and
luminous, and all the characters except

41

42 TEB GEEEN HELMET

the Red Man and the Black Men are
dressed in various shades of green, one
or two with touches of purple which look
nearly black. The Black Men all wear
dark purple and have eared caps, and at
the end their eyes should look green from
the reflected light of the sea. The Red
Man is altogether in red. He is very tall,
and his height increased by horns on the
Green Helmet. The effect is intention-
ally violent and startling.

Laegaike
What is that ? I had thought that I saw,

though but in the wink of an eye,
A cat-headed man out of Connaught go

pacing and spitting by ;
But that could not be.

CONALL

You have dreamed it— there's
nothing out there.

AND OTHER POEMS 43

I killed them all before daybreak— I
hoked them out of their lair ;

I cut off a hundred heads with a single
stroke of my sword,

And then I danced on their graves and
carried away their hoard.

Laegaire
Does anything stir on the sea!

CONALL

Not even a fish or a gull :
I can see for a mile or two, now that the
moon^s at the full.

{A distant shout.']

Laegaire
Ah— there— there is someone who calls
us.

44 THE GBEEN HELMET

CONALL

But from the landward side,
And we have nothing to fear that has not

come up from the tide ;
The rocks and the bushes cover whoever

made that noise,
But the land will do us no harm.

Laegaike
It was like Cuchulain's voice.

CONALL

But that's an impossible thing.

Laegaire
An impossible thing indeed.

CONALL

For he will never come home, he has all
that he could need

AND OTHER POEMS 45

In that high windy Scotland— good luck
in all that he does.

Here neighbour wars on neighbour and
why there is no man knows,

And if a man is lucky all wish his luck
away,

And take his good name from him be-
tween a day and a day.

Laegaire
I would he'd come for all that, and make

his young wife know
That though she may be his wife, she has

no right to go
Before your wife and my wife, as she

would have gone last night
Had they not caught at her dress, and

pulled her as was right ;

46 THE GBEEN HELMET

And she makes light of us though our

wives do all that they can.
She spreads her tail like a peacock and

praises none hut her man.

CONALL

A man in a long green cloak that covers

him up to the chin

Comes down through the rocks and

hazels.

Laegaire

Cry out that he cannot come in.

CONALL

He must look for his dinner elsewhere,

for no one alive shall stop
Where a shame must alight on us two

before the dawn is up.

AND OTHER POEMS 47

Laegaire
No man on the ridge of the world must
ever know that but us two.

CONALL

[Outside door]
Go away, go away, go away.

Young Man
[Outside door]
I will go when the night is through
And I have eaten and slept and drunk to
my heart's delight.

CONALL

A law has been made that none shall
sleep in this house to-night.

Young Man
"Who made that law?

48 TEE GBEEN HELMET

CONALL

We made it, and who has so good a right ?
Who else has to keep the house from the
Shape- Changers till day?

Young Man

Then I will unmake the law, so get you

out of the way.

[He pushes past Conall and goes
into house]

CoNALL

I thought that no living man could have

pushed me from the door.
Nor could any living man do it but for

the dip in the floor ;
And had I been rightly ready there's no

man living could do it,
Dip or no dip.

AND OTHER POEMS 49

Laegaiee
Go out— if you have your wits, go out,
A stone's throw further on you will find

a big house where
Our wives will give you supper, and

you '11 sleep sounder there,
For it's a luckier house.

Young Man
I'll eat and sleep where I will.

Laegaiee
Go out or I will make you.

Young Man

[Forcing up Laegaiee 's arm, passing

Mm and putting his shield on the wall

over the chair]

Not till I have drunk my fill.

50 TEE GEEEN HELMET

But may some dog defend me for a cat of

wonder's up.
Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon

full to the top,
And the cups—

Laegaire

It is Cuchulain.

CUCHULAIN

The cups are dry as a bone.
[He sits on chair and drinks]

CoNALL

Go into Scotland again, or where you

will, but begone
From this unlucky country that was

made when the devil spat.

AND OTHER POEMS 51

CUCHULAIN

If I lived here a hundred years, could a

worse thing come than that
Laegaire and Conall should know me and

bid me begone to my face !

Conall
We bid you begone from a house that
has fallen on shame and disgrace.

CUCHULAIN

I am losing patience, Conall— I find you

stuffed with pride,
The flagon full to the brim, the front

door standing wide ;
You'd put me off with words, but the

whole thing's plain enough,

52 THE GBEEN HELMET

You are waiting for some message to

bring you to war or love
In that old secret country beyond the

wool- white waves,
Or it may be down beneath them in

foam-bewildered caves
Where nine forsaken sea queens fling

shuttles to and fro ;
But beyond them, or beneath them,

whether you will or no,
I am going too.

Laegaike
Better tell it all out to the end ;
He was born to luck in the cradle, his

good luck may amend
The bad luck we were born to.

AND OTHER POEMS 53

CONALL

I'll lay the whole thing bare.
You saw the luck that he had when he

pushed in past me there.
Does anything stir on the sea ?

Laegaire
Not even a fish or a gull.

CoNALL

You were gone but a little while. We
were there and the ale-cup full.

We were half drunk and merry, and mid-
night on the stroke

When a wide, high man came in with a
red foxy cloak,

With half- shut foxy eyes and a great
laughing mouth.

54 TEE GBEEN HELMET

And he said when we bid him drink, that

he had so great a drouth
He could drink the sea.

CUCHULAIN

I thought he had come from one of you
Out of some Connaught rath, and would

lap up milk and mew ;
But if he so loved water I have the tale
awry.

CONALL

You would not be so merry if he were

standing by,
For when we had sung or danced as he

were our next of kin
He promised to show us a game, the best

that ever had been ;

AND OTHER POEMS 55

And when we had asked what game, he
answered, ' ' Why, whip off my head !

Then one of you two stoop down, and I'll
whip off his, ' ' he said.

*^A head for a head,*' he said, ^^that is
the game that I play. ' '

CUCHULAIN

How could he whip off a head when his
own had been whipped away?

CONALL

We told him it over and over, and that

ale had fuddled his wit,
But he stood and laughed at us there, as

though his sides would split,
Till I could stand it no longer, and

whipped off his head at a blow,

56 TEE GBEEN EELMET

Being mad that he did not answer, and

more at his laughing so,
And there on the ground where it fell it

went on laughing at me.

Laegaikb
Till he took it up in his hands—

CONALL

And splashed himself into the sea.

CUCHXJLAIN

I have imagined as good when I've been
as deep in the cup.

Laegaiee
You never did.

CUCHULAIN

And believed it.

AND OTHER POEMS 57

CONALL

Cuchulain, when will you stop

Boasting of your great deeds, and weigh-
ing yourself with us two,

And crying out to the world whatever we
say or do,

That you Ve said or done a better?— Nor
is it a drunkard's tale,

Though we said to ourselves at first that
it all came out of the ale.

And thinking that if we told it we should
be a laughing-stock,

Swore we should keep it secret.

Laegaire
But twelve months upon the clock.

CONALL

A twelvemonth from the first time.

58 the gbeen helmet

Laegaike
And the jug full up to the brim :
For we had been put from our drinking
by the very thought of him.

CONALL

We stood as we're standing now.

Laegaike
The horns were as empty.

CONALL

When
He ran up out of the sea with his head on
his shoulders again.

CUCHULAIN

Why, this is a tale worth telling.

AND OTHER POEMS 59

CONALL

And he called for his debt and his right.
And said that the land was disgraced
because of us two from that night
If we did not pay him his debt.

Laegaire
What is there to be said
When a man with a right to get it has
come to ask for your head?

CONALL

If you had been sitting there you had
been silent like us.

Laegaire
He said that in twelve months more he

would come again to this house
And ask his debt again. Twelve months

are up to-day.

60 THE GBEEN HELMET

CONALL

He would have followed after if we had

run away.

Laegaire

Will he tell every mother's son that we

have broken our word ?

CUCHULAIN

Whether he does or does not we'll drive

him out with the sword,
And take his life in the bargain if he but

dare to scoff.

CONALL

How can you fight with a head that
laughs when you Ve whipped it oif ?

Laegaire
Or a man that can pick it up and carry it
out in his hand 1

A2^D OTHER POEMS 61

CONALL

He is coming now, there's a splash and a

rumble along the strand
As when he came last.

CUCHULAIN

Come, and put all your backs to the door.
[A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked
man stands upon the threshold
against the misty green of the
sea; the ground, higher without
than within the house, makes him
seem taller even than he is. He
leans upon a great two-handed
sword]

Laegaike
It is too late to shut it, for there he

stands once more
And laughs like the sea.

62 TEE GBEEN HELMET

CUCHULAIN

Old herring— You whip off heads ! Why,

then
Whip off your own, for it seems you can

clap it on again.
Or else go down in the sea, go down in

the sea, I say,
Find that old juggler Manannan and

whip his head away ;
Or the Eed Man of the Boyne, for they

are of your own sort,
Or if the waves have vexed you and you

would find a sport
Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without

a rest
A caterwauling phantom among the

winds of the west.

AND OTHER FOEMS 63

But what are you waiting for ? into the

water, I say !
If there's no sword can harm you, IVe

an older trick to play,
An old five-fingered trick to tumble you

out of the place ;

I am Sualtim's son Cuchulain— what, do
you laugh in my face ?

Red Mait

So you too think me in earnest in wager-
ing poll for poll !

A drinking joke and a gibe and a jug-
gler's feat, that is all.

To make the time go quickly— for I am
the drinker's friend.

64 TEE GBEEN HELMET

The kindest of all Shape- Changers from

here to the world's end,
The best of all tipsy companions. And

now I bring you a gift :
I will lay it there on the ground for the

best of you all to lift,
[He lays his Helmet on the ground]
And wear upon his own head, and choose

for yourselves the best.
0 ! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but

they were afraid of my jest.
Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the

ale is in the cup.

There, I 'm forgiven now—

[Then in a more solemn voice as he
goes out]

Let the bravest take it up.

[Conall takes up Helmet and gazes
at it with delight]

and other poems 65

Laegaire
[Singing, ivith a swaggering stride]
Laegaire is best ;
Between water and hill,
He fought in the west
With cat heads, until
At the break of day
All fell by his sword.
And he carried away
Their hidden hoard.

[He seizes the Hehnet]

CONALL

Give it me, for what did you find in the

bag
But the straw and the broken delf and

the bits of dirty rag
You'd taken for good money?

66 TEE GBEEN HELMET

CUCHULAIN

No, no, but give it me.

[He takes Helmet]

CONALL

The Helmet's mine or Laegaire's —
you're the youngest of us three.

CuCHULAIN

[Filling Helmet tvitli ale]
I did not take it to keep it— the Bed Man

gave it for one,
But I shall give it to all— to all of us

three or to none ;
That is as you look upon it— we will pass

it to and fro.
And time and time about, drink out of it

and so

AND OTHER POEMS 67

Stroke into peace this cat that has come

to take our lives.
Now it is purring again, and now I drink

to your wives,

And I drink to Emer, my wife.

[A great noise without and shouting]

Why, what in God's name is that noise?

CONALL

What else but the charioteers and the

kitchen and stable boys

Shouting against each other, and the

worst of all is your own,
That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they'll

keep it up till the dawn.

And there's not a man in the house that

will close his eyes to-night,

68 THE GBEEN HELMET

Or be able to keep them from it, or know

what set them to fight.

[A noise of horns without]
There, do you hear them now? such

hatred has each for each
They have taken the hunting horns to

drown one other's speech
For fear the truth may prevail.— Here's

your good health and long life,
And, though she be quarrelsome, good

health to Emer, your wife.

[The Charioteers, Stable Boys and
Kitchen Boys come running in.
They carry great horns, ladles
and the like]

Laeg
I am Laeg, Cuchulain's driver, and my
master's cock of the yard.

AND OTHER POEMS 69

Another
Conall would scatter his feathers.

[Confused murmurs]

Laegaire
[To Cuchulain]
No use, they won^t hear a word.

Conall
They'll keep it up till the dawn.

Another
It is Laegaire that is the best,
For he fought with cats in Connaught

while Conall took his rest
And drained his ale pot.

Another
Laegaire— what does a man of his sort
Care for the like of us? He did it for his
own sport.

70 TEE GREEN HELMET

Another
It was all mere luck at the best.

Another
But Conall, I say—

Another

Let me speak.
Laeg

You'd be dumb if the cock of the yard

would but open his beak.

Another
Before your cock was born, my master
was in the fight.

Laeg
Go home and praise your grand-dad.

They took to the horns for spite,
For I said that no cock of your sort had

been born since the fight began.

and other foe ms 71

Another
Conall has got it, the best man has got it,
and I am his man.

CUCHULAIN

Who was it started this quarrel?

A Stable Boy

It was Laeg.

Another
It was Laeg done it all.

Laeg
A high, wide, foxy man came where we

sat in the hall,
Getting our supper ready, with a great

voice like the wind,
And cried that there was a helmet, or

something of the kind,

72 TEE GBEEN HELMET

That was for the foremost man upon the

ridge of the earth.

So I cried your name through the hall,

[The others cry out and blow horns,
partly drowning the rest of his
speech^

but they denied its worth,

Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they

cried to drown my voice ;
But I have so strong a throat that I

drowned all their noise
Till they took to the hunting horns and

blew them into my face,
And as neither side would give in— we

would settle it in this place.
Let the Helmet be taken from Conall.

A Stable Boy
No, Conall is the best man here.

and other poems 73

Another
Give it to Laegaire that made the mur-
derous cats pay dear.

CUCHULAIN

It has been given to none : that our

rivalry might cease,
We have turned that murderous cat into

a cup of peace.
I drank the first ; and then Conall ; give
it to Laegaire now,

[Conall gives Helmet to Laegaire]
That it may purr in his hand and all of

our servants know
That since the ale went in, its claws went

out of sight.

A Servant
That's well— I will stop my shouting.

74 the gbeen helmet

Another

Cuchulain is in the right ;
I am tired of this big horn that has made
me hoarse as a rook.

Laeg
Cuchulain, you drank the first.

Another
By drinking the first he took
The whole of the honours himself.

Laeg
Cuchulain, you drank the first.

Another
If Laegaire drink from it now he claims
to be last and worst.

AND OTHER POEMS 75

Anothek
Cuchulain and Conall have drunk.

Another
He is lost if he taste a drop.

Laegaiee
[Laying Helmet on table']
Did you claim to be better than us by-
drinking first from the cup?

Cuchulain

[His words are partly drowned by
the murmurs of the crowd though
he speaks very loud]

That juggler from the sea, that old red

herring it is
Who has set us all by the ears— he

brought the Helmet for this,
And because we would not quarrel he

ran elsewhere to shout

76 TEE GEEEN HELMET

That Conall and Laegaire wronged me,

till all had fallen ont.

[The murmur grows less so that
his words are heard]

Who knows where he is now or who he is

spurring to fight ?
So get you gone, and whatever may cry

aloud in the night,
Or show itself in the air, be silent until

morn.

A Servant
Cuchulain is in the right— I am tired of
this big horn.

Cuchulain
Go!

[The Servants turn toward the
door hut stop on hearing the
voices of Women outside]

AND OTHER POEMS 77

Laegaire's Wife
[Without]
Mine is the better to look at.

Conall's Wife
[Without]
But mine is better bom.

Emer
[Without]
My man is the pithier man.

Cuchulain

Old hurricane, well done !
You Ve set our wives to the game that

they may egg us on ;
We are to kill each other that you may
sport with us.

78 TEE GBEEN HELMET

Ah, now, they Ve begun to wrestle as to

who *11 be first at the house.

[The Women come to the door
struggling]

Emer
No, I have the right of place for I mar-
ried the better man.

CoNALL^s Wife
{Pulling Emeu haclc]
My nails in your neck and shoulder.

Laegaire's Wife
And go before me if you can.
My husband fought in the West.

Conall's Wife

[Kneeling in the door so as to keep
the others out who pull at her]

But what did he fight with there

AND OTHER POEMS 79

But sidelong and spitting and helpless

shadows of the dim air?
And what did he carry away but straw

and broken delf ?

Laegaire's Wife
Your own man made up that tale trem-
bling alone by himself,
Drowning his terror.

Emer
[Forcing herself in front]
I am Emer, it is I go first through the

door.
No one shall walk before me, or praise

any man before
My man has been praised.

80 TEE GEEEN HELMET

CUCHULAIN

[Spreading his arms across the door
so as to close it]

Come, put an end to their quarrelling :

One is as fair as the other, and each one

the wife of a king.
Break down the painted boards between

the sill and the floor
That they come in together, each one at

her own door.

[Laegaire and Conai^l begin to
break out the bottoms of the win-
dows, then their wives go to the
windows, each to the window
where her husband is, Emer
stands at the door and sings
while the boards are being broken
out]

Emer

Nothing that he has done,

His mind that is fire,

AND OTHER POEMS 81

His body that is sun,

Have set my head higher

Than all the world's wives.

Himself on the wind

Is the gift that he gives,

Therefore womenkind,

When their eyes have met mine,

Grow cold and grow hot,

Troubled as with wine

By a secret thought.

Preyed upon, fed upon

By jealousy and desire.

I am moon to that sun,

I am steel to that fire,

[The windows are now broken down
to floor. CucHULAiN takes his
spear from the door, and the
three Women come in at the
same moment]

82 TEE GBEEN HELMET

Emek
Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake :
I will sing till I Ve stiffened your lip

against every knave that would take
A share of your honour.

Laegaike 's Wife
You lie, for your man would take from
my man.

Conall's Wife
[To Laegaire's Wife]
You say that, you double-face, and your
own husband began.

Cuchulain
[Taking up Helmet from table]
Town land may rail at town land till all
have gone to wrack.

AND OTHER POEMS 83

The very straws may wrangle till they Ve

thrown down the stack ;
The very door-posts bicker till they've

pulled in the door,
The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on

the floor,
But this shall help no further.

[He throws Helmet into the sea]

Laegaiee 's Wife '

It was not for your head.
And so you would let none wear it, but
fling it away instead.

Con ALL 's Wife
But you shall answer for it, for you've
robbed my man by this.

84 TEE GBEEN HELMET

CONALL

You have robbed us both, Cuchulain.

Laegaire
The greatest wrong there is
On the wide ridge of the world has been
done to us two this day.

Emer
[Drawing her dagger]
Who is for Cuchulain ?

Cuchulain

Silence !

Emer

Who is for Cuchulain, I say?

[She sings the same words as be-
fore, flourishing her dagger
about. While she is singing,
Con all's Wife and Laegaire *s

AND OTHEB POEMS 85

Wife draw their daggers and run
at her, but Cuchulain forces
them hack. Laegaire and Conall
draw their sivords to strike Cu-
chulain]

Laegaire *s Wife

[Crying out so as to he heard
through Emer's singing^

Deafen her singing with horns !

Conall's Wife
Cry aloud ! blow horns ! make a noise !

Laegaire *s Wife

Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that

you smother her voice !

[The Horse Boys and Scullions
hlow their horns or fight among
themselves. There is a deafening
noise and a confused fight. Sud-
denly three hlack haiids come

86 TBE GBEEN HELMET

through the windows and put out
the torches. It is now pitch dark,
hut for a faint light outside the
house which merely shows that
there are moving forms, but not
who or what they are, and in the
darkness one can hear low terri-
fied voices]

A Voice
Coal-black, and headed like cats, they
came up over the strand.

Another Voice
And I saw one stretch to a torch and
cover it with his hand.

Another Voice
Another sooty fellow has plucked the
moon from the air.

[A light gradually comes into the
house from the sea, on which the
moon begins to show once more.

AND OTHER POEMS 87

There is no light within the
house, and the great beams of
the ivalls are dark and full of
shadows, and the persons of the
play dark too against the light.
The Red Man is seen standing in
the midst of the house. The
black cat-headed Men crouch and
stand about the door. One car-
ries the Helmet, one the great
sword]

Red Man
I demand the debt that^s owing. Let

some man kneel down there
That I may cut his head off, or all shall

go to wrack.

CUCHULAIN

He played and paid with his head and
it's right that we pay him back,

And give him more than he gave, for he
comes in here as a guest :

88 TEE GBEEN HELMET

So I will give him my head.

[Emer begins to keen]
Little wife, little wife, be at rest.
Alive I have been far off in all lands

under sun.
And been no faithful man ; but when my

story is done
My fame shall spring up and laugh, and
set you high above all.

Emer
[Putting her arms about him]
It is you, not your fame, that I love.

CUCHULAIN

[Tries to put her from him]
You are young, you are wise, you can call
Some kinder and comelier man that will
sit at home in the house.

AND OTHER POEMS 89

Emer
Live and be faithless still.

CUCHULAIN

[Throwing her from him]
Would you stay the great barnacle-goose
When its eyes are turned to the sea and
its beak to the salt of the air ?

Emer
[Lifting her dagger to stab herself]
I, too, on the grey wing^s path.

CuCHULAIN

[Seizing dagger]

Do you dare, do you dare, do you daret

Bear children and sweep the house.

[Forcing his way through the Ser-
vants icho gather round]

90 TBE GBEEN HELMET

Wail, but keep from the road.

[He kneels before Red Man. There

is a pause]

Quick to your work, old Radish, you will

fade when the cocks have crowed.

[A black cat-headed Man holds out
the Helmet. The Red Man takes
it]

Red Man
I have not come for your hurt, I'm the

Rector of this land.
And with my spitting cat-heads, my

frenzied moon-bred band,
Age after age I sift it, and choose for its

championship

The man who hits my fancy.

[He places the Helmet on Cuchu-
lain's head]

AND OTHER POEMS 91

And I choose the laughing lip

That shall not turn from laughing what-
ever rise or fall,

The heart that grows no bitterer al-
though betrayed by all ;

The hand that loves to scatter ; the life
like a gambler's throw;

And these things I make prosper, till a
day come that I know,

When heart and mind shall darken that
the weak may end the strong,

And the long remembering harpers have
matter for their song.

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