William Butler Yeats (Уильям Батлер Йейтс)

* * *

WHY should not old men be mad?
Some have known a likely lad
That had a sound fly-fisher's wrist
Turn to a drunken journalist;
A girl that knew all Dante once
Live to bear children to a dunce;
A Helen of social welfare dream,
Climb on a wagonette to scream.
Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good men and bad advance,
That if their neighbours figured plain,
As though upon a lighted screen,
No single story would they find
Of an unbroken happy mind,
A finish worthy of the start.
Young men know nothing of this sort,
Observant old men know it well;
And when they know what old books tell
And that no better can be had,
Know why an old man should be mad. 

1. The Well and the Tree
2. An Appointment
3. The Dolls
4. The Consolation
5. The Fascination of What's Difficult

Распечатать (To print)

Количество обращений к стихотворению: 2238

Последние стихотворения

To English version