The Mind

The Cold Heaven

by W. B. Yeats 1865–1939

From The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1912)

The MindReligion

Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
So wild, that every casual thought of that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,
Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
By the injustice of the skies for punishment?

✦ ✦ ✦

The speaker suddenly sees the cold, rook-delighting Heaven as ice that burns, and imagination and heart are so driven that he cries and trembles at memories of love crossed long ago. He ends asking what becomes of the ghost, 'stricken by the injustice of the skies'.

MLA

Yeats, W. B. “The Cold Heaven.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/28/.

Chicago

Yeats, W. B. “The Cold Heaven.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/28/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by W. B. Yeats