Mad as the mist and snow lyrics

Bolt and bar the shutter,

For the foul winds blow:

Our minds are at their best this night,

And I seem to know

That everything outside us is

Mad as the mist and snow.

Horace there by Homer stands,

Plato stands below,

And here is Tully's open page.

How many years ago

Were you and I unlettered lads

Mad as the mist and snow?

You ask what makes me sigh, old friend,

What makes me shudder so?

I shudder and I sigh to think

That even Cicero

And many-minded Homer were

Mad as the mist and snow.

• Artist:William Butler Yeats