THE CAT AND THE MOON

The cat went here and there

And the moon spun round like a top,

And the nearest kin of the moon,

The creeping cat, looked up.

Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon, 

For, wander and wail as he would,

The pure cold light in the sky

Troubled his animal blood.

Minnalousche runs in the grass

Lifting his delicate feet.

Do you dance , Minnaloushe, do you dance?

When two close kindred meet,

What better than call a dance?

Maybe the moon may learn,

Tired of that courtly fashion,

A new dance turn.

Minnalousche creeps through the grass

From moonlit place to place,

The sacred moon overhead

Has taken a new phase.

Does Minnalousche know that his pupils

Will pass from change to change,

And that from round to crescent,

From crescent to round they range?

Minnalousche creeps through the grass

Alone, important and wise,

And lifts to the changing moon

His changing eyes.

                William Butler Yeats

13 juni 1865 – 28 januari 1939

Grattis William, du skulle ha fyllt 149 år i dag! Han tilldelades nobelpriset i litteratur 1923

...för hans ständigt besjälade diktning, 

som i den strängaste konstnärliga 

form ger uttryck åt ett folks anda.