Muses & Yeats, Pt. 2: The Cloths Of Heaven

After going over my last post about Muses and a poem by William Butler Yeats, I re-read some of Yeats’ poems. Another one stuck out that I believe was definitely inspired by his muse, Maude Gonne.

It’s a beautiful poem called “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.

The poem was written in 1899, a couple years before Yeats’ muse (Maude Gonne) married another man.

Having had muses before -- and having written lyrics and music -- I can tell that this poem obviously was for a woman who had Yeats' heart.

“Tread softly because you tread on my dreams” – that’s how every man feels when he has found someone special, a woman who inspires him.

Sometimes if you have a muse, you’re not sure exactly who the muse is. That has happened to me once. I would guess it has also happened to other songwriters.

I wrote a 12-string instrumental piece a few years ago I called “She Walks In The Clouds”. I thought maybe it was for a woman I loved at the time -- but to this day, I’m not sure who it was really written for.

But it was for a muse, that much I know, for sure. According to author Robert Graves, some muses are mythological archetypes. I prefer to think they're real people. In this case, I don't really know who it is.

She Walks In The Clouds:

http://tindeck.com/listen/fxjxb

Some day I’ll re-do the recording and add more instruments.

But until then -- it is what it is.