Incipits: Stephens, Here Are Ladies

Listen! If but women were
Half as kind as they are fair
There would be an end to all
Miseries that do appal.
('Women')

He had a high nose.
('Three Heavy Husbands')

It was now his custom to sit there.
('A Glass of Beer')

Do you hate me, you!
('One on One')

He was one of those men who can call ladies by their Christian names.
('Three Women Who Wept')

Nothing is true forever.
('The Triangle')

He sat cross-legged on the roadside beside a heap of stones, and with slow regularity his hammer swung up and down, cracking a stone into small pieces at each descent.
('Three Angry People')

When Brien O'Brien died, people said that it did not matter very much, because he would have died young in any case.
('The Threepenny-Piece')

Do not marry, Breed, asthore!
('Brigid')

She was about to be a mother for the second time, and the fear which is the portion of women was upon her.
('Three Young Wives')

He was tall and she was short.
('The Horses')

While I sit beside the window
I can hear the pigeons coo,
That the air is warm and blue,
And how well the young bird flew –
Then I fold my arms and scold the heart
That thought the pigeon knew.
('Mistress Quiet-Eyes')

Young Mr. O'Grady was in love.
(Three Lovers Who Lost')

He was one who would have passed by the Sphinx without seeing it.
(The Blind Man')

At the end of the bough, at the top of the tree
(As fragrant, as high, and as lovely as thou),
One sweet apple reddens which all men may see,
At the end of the bough.
('Sweet-Apple')

One awakened suddenly in those days.
('Three Happy Places')

If the Moon had a hand
I wonder would she
Stretch it down unto me?
('The Moon')

The old gentleman entered, and was about to sit down, when a button became detached from some portion of his raiment and rolled upon the floor.
('There is a Tavern in the Town')


James STEPHENS, Here are Ladies. London, MacMillan & Co., 1913.