Living

The Fiddler of Dooney

by W. B. Yeats 1865–1939

From The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)

LivingArts & Sciences

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Moharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time,
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With 'Here is the fiddler of Dooney!'
And dance like a wave of the sea.

✦ ✦ ✦

A fiddler says folk dance 'like a wave of the sea' when he plays. At the end of time St Peter will smile on the three old spirits, himself and his priestly cousin and brother, 'but call me first through the gate; for the good are always the merry'.

MLA

Yeats, W. B. “The Fiddler of Dooney.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/12/.

Chicago

Yeats, W. B. “The Fiddler of Dooney.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/12/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by W. B. Yeats