Poems. William Butler Yeats

the drought came they drift about in a throng,

      Like autumn leaves blown by the dreary winds.

      Come, deal – come, deal.

FIRST MERCHANT

      Who will come deal with us?

SHEMUS

      They are out of spirit, sir, with lack of food,

      Save four or five. Here, sir, is one of these;

      The others will gain courage in good time.

MIDDLE-AGED-MAN

      I come to deal – if you give honest price.

FIRST MERCHANT (reading in a book)

      "John Maher, a man of substance, with dull mind,

      And quiet senses and unventurous heart.

      The angels think him safe." Two hundred crowns,

      All for a soul, a little breath of wind.

THE MAN

      I ask three hundred crowns. You have read there

      That no mere lapse of days can make me yours.

FIRST MERCHANT

      There is something more writ here – "Often at night

      He is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,

      And thereon wonders if there's any man

      That he could rob in safety."

A PEASANT

      Who'd have thought it?

      And I was once alone with him at midnight.

ANOTHER PEASANT

      I will not trust my mother after this.

FIRST MERCHANT

      There is this crack in you – two hundred crowns.

A PEASANT

      That's plenty for a rogue.

ANOTHER PEASANT

      I'd give him nothing.

SHEMUS

      You'll get no more – so take what's offered you.

      (A general murmur, during which the MIDDLE-AGED MAN takes money, and slips into background, where he sinks on to a seat.)

FIRST MERCHANT

      Has no one got a better soul than that?

      If only for the credit of your parishes,

      Traffic with us.

A WOMAN

      What will you give for mine?

FIRST MERCHANT (reading in book)

      "Soft, handsome, and still young" – not much, I think.

      "It's certain that the man she's married to

      Knows nothing of what's hidden in the jar

      Between the hour-glass and the pepper-pot."

THE WOMAN

      The scandalous book.

FIRST MERCHANT

      "Nor how when he's away

      At the horse fair the hand that wrote what's hid

      Will tap three times upon the window-pane."

THE WOMAN

      And if there is a letter, that is no reason

      Why I should have less money than the others.

FIRST MERCHANT

      You're almost safe, I give you fifty crowns.

      (She turns to go.)

      A hundred, then.

SHEMUS

      Woman, have sense – come, come.

      Is this a time to haggle at the price?

      There, take it up. There, there. That's right.

      (She takes them and goes into the crowd.)

FIRST MERCHANT

      Come, deal, deal, deal. It is but for charity

      We buy such souls at all; a thousand sins

      Made them our Master's long before we came.

      (ALEEL enters.)

ALEEL

      Here, take my soul, for I am tired of it.

      I do not ask a price.

SHEMUS

      Not ask a price?

      How can you sell your soul without a price?

      I would not listen to his broken wits;

      His love for Countess Cathleen has so crazed him

      He hardly understands what he is saying.

ALEEL

      The trouble that has come on Countess Cathleen,

      The sorrow that is in her wasted face,

      The burden in her eyes, have broke my wits,

      And yet I know I'd have you take my soul.

FIRST MERCHANT

      We cannot take your soul, for it is hers.

ALEEL

      No, but you must. Seeing it cannot help her

      I have grown tired of it.

FIRST MERCHANT

      Begone from me,

      I may not touch it.

ALEEL

      Is your power so small?

      And must I bear it with me all my days?

      May you be scorned and mocked!

FIRST MERCHANT

      Drag him away.

      He troubles me.

      (TEIG and SHEMUS lead ALEEL into the crowd.)

SECOND MERCHANT

      His gaze has filled me, brother,

      With shaking and a dreadful fear.

FIRST MERCHANT

      Lean forward

      And kiss the circlet where my Master's lips

      Were pressed upon it when he sent us hither;

      You shall have peace once more.

      (SECOND MERCHANT kisses the gold circlet that is about the head of the FIRST MERCHANT.)

      I, too, grow weary,

      But there is something moving in my heart

      Whereby I know that what we seek the most

      Is drawing near – our labour will soon end.

      Come, deal, deal, deal, deal, deal; are you all dumb?

      What, will you keep me from our ancient home,

      And from the eternal revelry?

SECOND MERCHANT

      Deal, deal.

SHEMUS

      They say you beat the woman down too low.

FIRST MERCHANT

      I offer this great price: a thousand crowns

      For an old woman who was always ugly.

      (An old PEASANT WOMAN comes forward, and he takes up a book and reads:)

      There is but little set down here against her.

      "She