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Yeats, William Butler: Leda and the Swan

Portre of Yeats, William Butler

Leda and the Swan (English)

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still 
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed 
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, 
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. 

How can those terrified vague fingers push 
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? 
And how can body, laid in that white rush, 
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders there 
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower 
And Agamemnon dead. 
                            Being so caught up, 
So mastered by the brute blood of the air, 
Did she put on his knowledge with his power 
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

 



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.poemhunter.com

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