Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

The Dolls (Author: William Butler Yeats)

p.78

1. A doll in the doll-maker's house
   Looks at the cradle and balls:
   'That is an insult to us.'
   But the oldest of all the dolls
   Who had seen, being kept for show.
   Generations of his sort,
   Out-screams the whole shelf: 'Although
   There's not a man can report
   Evil of this place,
   The man and the woman bring
   Hither to our disgrace,
   A noisy and filthy thing.'
   Hearing him groan and stretch
   The doll-maker's wife is aware
   Her husband has heard the wretch,
   And crouched by the arm of his chair,

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   p.79

   She murmurs into his ear,
   Head upon shoulder leant:
   'My dear, my dear, oh dear,
   It was an accident.'