Before The World Was Made

William Butler Yeats

If I make the lashes dark 
And the eyes more bright 
And the lips more scarlet, 
Or ask if all be right 
From mirror after mirror, 
No vanity's displayed: 
I'm looking for the face I had 
Before the world was made. 

What if I look upon a man 
As though on my beloved, 
And my blood be cold the while 
And my heart unmoved? 
Why should he think me cruel 
Or that he is betrayed? 
I'd have him love the thing that was 
Before the world was made. 

Next 10 Poems

• William Butler Yeats : Beggar To Beggar Cried
• William Butler Yeats : Blood And The Moon
• William Butler Yeats : Broken Dreams
• William Butler Yeats : Brown Penny
• William Butler Yeats : Byzantium
• William Butler Yeats : Chosen
• William Butler Yeats : Church And State
• William Butler Yeats : Colonel Martin
• William Butler Yeats : Colonus' Praise
• William Butler Yeats : Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites

Previous 10 Poems

• William Butler Yeats : Beautiful Lofty Things
• William Butler Yeats : Baile And Aillinn
• William Butler Yeats : At The Abbey Theatre
• William Butler Yeats : At Galway Races
• William Butler Yeats : At Algeciras - A Meditaton Upon Death
• William Butler Yeats : At Aleciras -- A Meditaton Upon Death
• William Butler Yeats : Are You Content?
• William Butler Yeats : Another Song Of A Fool
• William Butler Yeats : Anashuya And Vijaya
• William Butler Yeats : An Irish Airman Forsees His Death