Love

The Mask

by W. B. Yeats 1865–1939

From The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1912)

Love

"Put off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes."
"O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold."

"I would but find what's there to find,
Love or deceit."
"It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what's behind."

"But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire."
"O no, my dear, let all that be,
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me?"

✦ ✦ ✦

Printed in The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1912) as 'A Lyric from an Unpublished Play'.

MLA

Yeats, W. B. “The Mask.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/95/.

Chicago

Yeats, W. B. “The Mask.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/95/.

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