Beggar to Beggar Cried
“Time to put off the world and go somewhere
And find my health in the sea air,”
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck,
“And make my soul before my pate is bare;
“And get a comfortable wife and house
To rid me of the devil in my shoes,”
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck,
“and the worse devil that is between my thighs.
“And though I’d marry with a comely lass,
She need not be too comely—let it pass,”
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck,
“But there’s a devil in the looking glass.
“Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,”
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck,
“And cannot have a humorous happy speech.
“And there I’ll grow respected at my ease,
And hear among the garden’s nightly peace,”
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck,
“the wind-blown clamor of the barnacle-geese.”
by W.B Yeats