back to W. B. Yeats

“The Saint and the Hunchback” by W. B. Yeats 🇮🇪 (13 Jun 1865 – 28 Jan 1939)
Hunchback
​
Stand up and lift your hand and bless
A man that finds great bitterness
In thinking of his lost renown.
A Roman Caesar is held down
Under this hump.
​
​
Saint
​
God tries each man
According to a different plan.
I shall not cease to bless because
I lay about me with the taws
That night and morning I may thrash
​
Greek Alexander from my flesh,
Augustus Caesar, and after these
That great rogue Alcibiades.
​
​
Hunchback
​
To all that in your flesh have stood
And blessed, I give my gratitude,
Honoured by all in their degrees,
But most to Alcibiades.