Living

Running to Paradise

by W. B. Yeats 1865–1939

From Responsibilities (1914)

LivingReligion

As I came over Windy Gap
They threw a halfpenny into my cap,
For I am running to Paradise;
And all that I need do is to wish
And somebody puts his hand in the dish
To throw me a bit of salted fish:
And there the king is but as the beggar.

My brother Mourteen is worn out
With skelping his big brawling lout,
And I am running to Paradise;
A poor life do what he can,
And though he keep a dog and a gun,
A serving maid and a serving man:
And there the king is but as the beggar.

Poor men have grown to be rich men,
And rich men grown to be poor again,
And I am running to Paradise;
And many a darling wit's grown dull
That tossed a bare heel when at school,
Now it has filled an old sock full:
And there the king is but as the beggar.

The wind is old and still at play
While I must hurry upon my way,
For I am running to Paradise;
Yet never have I lit on a friend
To take my fancy like the wind
That nobody can buy or bind:
And there the king is but as the beggar.

✦ ✦ ✦

A beggar on the road, 'running to Paradise', answers every discouragement with the refrain 'And there the king is but as the beggar'.

MLA

Yeats, W. B. “Running to Paradise.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/38/.

Chicago

Yeats, W. B. “Running to Paradise.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/38/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by W. B. Yeats