Follow, poet, follow right

To the bottom of the night,

With your unconstraining voice

Still persuade us to rejoice.

 

With the farming of a verse

Make a vineyard of the curse,

Sing of human unsuccess

In a rapture of distress.

 

In the deserts of the heart

Let the healing fountains start,

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.

 

In Memory of W. B. Yeats (excerpt)

W.H. Auden