William Butler Yeats
- I KNOW that I shall meet my fate
- Somewhere among the clouds above;
- Those that I fight I do not hate,
- Those that I guard I do not love;
- My country is Kiltartan Cross,
- My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
- No likely end could bring them loss
- Or leave them happier than before.
- Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
- Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
- A lonely impulse of delight
- Drove to this tummult in the clouds;
- I balanced all, brought all to mind,
- The years to come seemed waste of breath,
- A waste of breath the years behind
- In balance with this life, this death.