Love
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
From The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Codex Note
If he had heaven's embroidered cloths, the lover would spread them under his beloved's feet. Being poor, he has only his dreams, and asks her to 'tread softly because you tread on my dreams'. Later retitled 'He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Yeats, W. B. “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/11/.
Chicago
Yeats, W. B. “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/11/.
Read this poem with the Codex →