Lyric Poem · Love

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

by W. B. Yeats · 1899

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.

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“He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” by W. B. Yeats — quilloak.com/poems/cloths-of-heaven

Quick facts

Poem: He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Poet: W. B. Yeats
Published: 1899
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Free Verse
Themes: Love, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 8 lines · one 8-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 9-syllable lines.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on a United States term-expiry review; status can differ elsewhere.

Author record: W. B. Yeats1865–1939
Source record: QuillOak curated editionHe Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (1899) by william-butler-yeats
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: 1899
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 2fc65d7a1d8a667c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.