He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven *

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
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* William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven
* On the left, Yannis Stavrou, Portrait of a Young Woman, oil on canvas (detail)