Skip to content
1865–1939

THE HAWK

William Butler Yeats

‘ Call down the hawk from the air; Let him be hooded or caged Till the yellow eye has grown mild, For larder and spit are bare,

The old cook enraged, The scullion gone wild.’ ‘ I will not be clapped in a hood, Nor a cage, nor alight upon wrist,

Now I have learnt to be proud Hovering over the wood In the broken mist Or tumbling cloud.’

‘ What tumbling cloud did you cleave, Yellow-eyed hawk of the mind, Last evening? that I, who had sat Dumbfounded before a knave,

Should give to my friend A pretence of wit.’

Cookies on Poetry Cove

We use cookies to remember your language preference and — only with your consent — to learn how Poetry Cove is used. You can change your mind any time.
THE HAWK · William Butler Yeats · Poetry Cove