Poem by William Butler Yeats

Young Man's Song

'She will change,' I cried.
'Into a withered crone.'
The heart in my side,
That so still had lain,
In noble rage replied
And beat upon the bone:

'Uplift those eyes and throw
Those glances unafraid:
She would as bravely show
Did all the fabric fade;
No withered crone I saw
Before the world was made.'

Abashed by that report,
For the heart cannot lie,
I knelt in the dirt.
And all shall bend the knee
To my offended heart
Until it pardon me. 

1. Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation
2. These Are the Clouds
3. Against Unworthy Praise
4. The Mask
5. Solomon to Sheba

Print

2597 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version