The Green Helmet and Other Poems

Scene: A house made of logs. There are two windows at the back and a door which cuts off one of the corners of the room. Through the door one can see low rocks which make the ground outside higher than it is within, and beyond the rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the windows one can see nothing but the sea. There is a great chair at the opposite side to the door, and in front of it a table with cups and a flagon of ale. Here and there are stools.

Yet would be now, could I but have my wish,
Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.

Its flesh being wild, and it again

Imitated from Ronsard

With emerald eyes.”

Put off that mask of burning gold

’Twere politic to do the like by these;
But where’s the wild dog that has praised his fleas?

I look at you, and I sigh.

That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.

The fascination of what’s difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.