Poem by William Butler Yeats

The Choice

The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse. 

1. The Three Beggars
2. To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing
3. When Helen Lived
4. The Attack on 'The Playboy of the Western World', 1907
5. To a Wealthy Man Who Promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if It Were Proved the People Wanted Pictures

Katharine Tynan The Choice ("When skies are blue and days are bright")

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