39. Another Song of a Fool. Yeats, W. B. 1919. The Wild Swans at Coole

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

39. Another Song of a Fool

THIS great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.

Once he lived a schoolmaster	5
With a stark, denying look,
A string of scholars went in fear
Of his great birch and his great book.

Like the clangour of a bell,
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet,	10
That is how he learnt so well
To take the roses for his meat.