Explore "His Phoenix" by W.B. Yeats on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There is a queen in China, or maybe it's in Spain, And birthdays and holidays such praises can be heard Of her unblemished lineaments, a whiteness with no stain, That she might be that sprightly girl who was trodden by a bird; And there's a score of duchesses, surpassing womankind, Or who have found a painter to make them so for pay And smooth out stain and blemish with the elegance of his mind: I knew a phoenix in my youth so let them have their day.
The young men every night applaud their Gaby's laughing eye, And Ruth St. Denis had more charm although she had poor luck; From nineteen hundred nine or ten, Pavlova's had the cry, And there's a player in the States who gathers up her cloak And flings herself out of the room when Juliet would be bride With all a woman's passion, a child's imperious way, And there are--but no matter if there are scores beside: I knew a phoenix in my youth so let them have their day.