william butler yeats

portrait of william butler yeats by john singer sargent 1908

william butler yeats was born today in 1865.

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 love 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.

-1893