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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Oil And Blood

William Butler Yeats

In tombs of gold and lapis lazuli
Bodies of holy men and women exude
Miraculous oil, odour of violet.

But under heavy loads of trampled clay
Lie bodies of the vampires full of blood;
Their shrouds are bloody and their lips are wet.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Winding Stair and Other Poems | 1933
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