Poetry Friday: a poem and a song

I just noticed that “light” is a theme for many of the Poetry Friday posts. By coincidence, I am sharing a poem about light by William Butler Yeats. 

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

By William Butler Yeats

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.

Perhaps many of you already know and love the poem. But have you heard it set to music? I hadn’t but was blown away by Mark Sirett’s composition based on Yeat’s poem. 

My daughter’s high school choir performed “Cloths of Heaven” and I’m hoping that you’ll be able to hear it in the YouTube video I am attempting to embed here. I love how the choir embellishes some of the words by drawing them out and/or repeating them.

I created a video that shares the sound recording but displays the poem so that listeners can read along. But you can also click to play it and then scroll up to the top of this post where the poem might be easier to read.
Hope you enjoy it!

Check out the Poetry Friday roundup at my juicy little universe.