Friday, January 25, 2008

Poetry Friday


Ah...nothing like a little unrequited love to brighten up your day. We studied William Butler Yeats in my senior seminar in college, and the romantic in me LOVED to read about his infatuation with Maud Gonne who inspired so many beautiful poems. How I longed to me someone's muse, and I couldn't understand how she could have possibly resisted such beautiful words. Now that I think about it, maybe he was kind of creepy. Oh well...makes for some pretty darn good poetry. Here's one of my favorites that still gets to me:


When You Are Old

WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

by: William Butler Yeats
Source: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-you-are-old/

Favorite line: "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you"
Sigh.....

Visit the rest of the Poetry Friday roundup at Mentor Texts, Read Alouds, & More

4 comments:

  1. I'm sighing along with you. Love Yeats! Thanks.

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  2. My favorite line: "And loved the sorrows of your changing face;" The image of the fire glowing in the grate really brings it home to me. Great poem!

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  3. Love that one too. I'm in with unrequited love as well - Byron's "When We Two Parted".

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  4. Jama, Cloudscome, and Kelly: Thanks for visiting for leaving your comments! So nice to near from other fans of this poem. And Kelly, I love "When We Two Parted."

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