William Butler
William Butler
Multi-instrumentalist for the band Arcade Fire who plays bass, synth, guitar, and percussion. He has also worked on movie soundtracks, like the one for Her.
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth6 October 1982
city holy sailed seas therefore
And therefore I have sailed the seas and comeTo the holy city of Byzantium.
childhood
The things that have been told us in our childhoodAre not so fragile.
marble melancholy sacred seek shadow wander
See how the sacred old flamingoes come,Painting with shadow all the marble steps:Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perchesWithin the temple, devious walking, madeTo wander by their melancholy minds.
dead grave romance romantic
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary in the grave
knowledge straw worth
I would be -- for no knowledge is worth a straw --Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.
certainly child comfort desire destroyed drink known men seen wife
I have certainly known more men destroyed by the desire to have a wife and child and to keep them in comfort than I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots
bad believed best good lantern man swing
I have believed the best of every man. And find that to believe it is enough to make a bad man show him at his best, or even a good man swing his lantern higher.
beautiful beauty chooses eye granted hers kindness natural sufficient
May she be granted beauty and yet notBeauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,Being made beautiful overmuch,Consider beauty a sufficient end,Lose natural kindness and maybeThe heart-revealing intimacyThat chooses right, and never find a friend.
friendship gives god man praised
May God be praised for womanThat gives up all her mind,A man may find in no mana friendship of her kind.
book crowded empty london marble open solitary year
My fiftieth year had come and gone,I sat, a solitary man,In a crowded London shop,And open book and empty cupOn the marble table-top.
conflicts others ourselves poetry
Of conflicts with others we make retorica, of conflicts with ourselves poetry
dried listen soon
I'd as soon listen to dried peas in a bladder, as listen to your thoughts.
blind content life man
I am content to live it all againAnd yet again, if it be life to pitchInto the frog-spawn of a blind man's ditch,A blind man battering blind men.
bear burden god great men might pray
I bear a burden that might well tryMen that do all by rule,And what can IThat am a wandering-witted foolBut pray to God that He easeMy great responsibilities?