[1600] Two Songs Of A Fool

Guest poem submitted by Deepak Srinivasan, <Deepak.Srinivasan@>:

 I

A speckled cat and a tame hare
Eat at my hearthstone
And sleep there;
And both look up to me alone
For learning and defence
As I look up to Providence.

I start out of my sleep to think
Some day I may forget
Their food and drink;
Or, the house door left unshut,
The hare may run till it's found
The horn's sweet note and the tooth of the hound.

I bear a burden that might well try
Men that do all by rule,
And what can I
That am a wandering-witted fool
But pray to God that He ease
My great responsibilities?

II

I slept on my three-legged stool by the fire.
The speckled cat slept on my knee;
We never thought to enquire
Where the brown hare might be,
And whether the door were shut.
Who knows how she drank the wind
Stretched up on two legs from the mat,
Before she had settled her mind
To drum with her heel and to leap?
Had I but awakened from sleep
And called her name, she had heard.
It may be, and had not stirred,
That now, it may be, has found
The horn's sweet note and the tooth of the hound.

	-- William Butler Yeats

When I read this poem in my wanderings I was struck by a strange unease on
reading it. For whatever reason, this poem has dark elements in it. Song I,
I think, tells a tale of fatalism and acceptance of what the future may
hold. It is one that would probably be a folk tale. There is little of edge
in it. And suddenly in song II we are drawn into the world where risks have
fearful consequences. A more real world and not so idyllic as the first.
"drinking the wind" - isn't that what people who live on the edge do? Those
who are in strange alleys in the night, or those who are fighting a war
below the radar of the common man? I don't know. There is some magnetism
about it, and, of course among the two animals which else but the hare would
be drawn to it. Not the quiet, cautious, cunning cat!! Maybe I am reading
too much into it and perhaps there are better interpretations to be sure. I
just get the feeling that I am on the brink peering into a Lord of the Rings
trilogy that, it seems, few cultures evoke as effectively as those of the
islands off the continent. Not only does this poem stir up strange feelings
and hint at forgotten experiences, but also does so with a cadence and rhyme
that makes it roll off the tongue so easily. How much more can one ask for?

Deepak.

[this poem is archived, accessible and awaiting your comments at]
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1600.html
To subscribe, send a blank mail to <minstrels-subscribe@>.


Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minstrels/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    minstrels-unsubscribe@

    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

From: "Mallika Chellappa" <mchellappa@>

Maybe you're reading too much into it.=0AThey are just, after all the songs of a fool.=0AThe first thinks he controls and is =0Aresponsible for the lives of others;=0Athe second doesn't even try to exercise=0Adue diligence.=0ABoth are faults, hence the title.MC=0A=0A=0A

From: "Bryan Alexander" <Bryan_Alexander@>

To me it looks like there's a parallel between these relationships: pets
to human; human to Providence. The human is a "wandering-witted fool" in
that neither his ability to serve his pets nor his communication with
Providence is ideal. But the hare, too, is a fool in seeking the wild
ways of the world that seem so distant from the comforts and
predictability of home. In myth and tradition, in royal courts and
common stand-up routines, the Fool is not only foolish but also is wise
in daring to become intimate with his desires and potential, despite the
risks of societal disapproval. William Blake said something like, "The
fool who pursues his folly becomes wise."BryanA