William Butler Yeats. To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing

By William Butler Yeats


NOW all the truth is out,
Be secret and take defeat
From any brazen throat,
For how can you compete,
Being honor bred, with one	5
Who were it proved he lies
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbours’ eyes;
Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away	10
And like a laughing string
Whereon mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,
Because of all things known	15
That is most difficult.