Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet. – Plato
When You Are Old by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
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.
#poetry #love
source
As a author/poet, I can tell you that this was FANTASTIC ❤⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The first time you realise that you are too old for something is the worst. ❤
Love this ppoem and love Yeats. Thank you Cillian.❤
Where has it gone, not long ago I was young and in my prime. Old age was eons away and now it is here. I sit and inwardly pray asking for a few more years, regretting all the things I put off doing, now too late.
'This is good, but "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is better.
I could listen to him speaking forever. One of the best voices I have ever heard.
What an amazing voice.❤
I love this beautiful poem. Makes me sad
❤
life sucks when your husband is dead
We run out of our Mother's womb, never to run or feel safe again.
When I was pregnant with my first child, I would rock and read her Yeats for hours.
On pillow after pillow lies
The wild white hair and staring eyes;
Jaws stand open; necks are stretched
With every tendon sharply sketched;
A bearded mouth talks silently
To someone no one else can see.
Sixty years ago they smiled
At lover, husband, first-born child.
Smiles are for youth. For old age come
Death’s terror and delirium.
Philip Larkin – Heads in the Women's Ward
If you feel invisible. Wear Elton John style red eyeglasses. Little children laugh. Teenagers talk to you and
Women compliment you. I laughed so much when I tried them on, that I had to spread the joy at age 74. Would not mind being ignored and invisible, but why? When I can bring a laugh and a smile, instead. Happy Cesar Chavez day. Celebrate farm workers and unions every time you eat natures bounty😊
When the world's in turmoil
Get yourself some worm oil
And slap it on your gargoyle
Face.
Match maker match maker make me a match
British PM's face on Queen Camilla's snatch
Her face, a shattered mirror, or a Halloween mask
Getting hard, like running the UK, is an impossible task!
Who else is here because Cillian Murphy is reading this? 🙋♀🙋♀
Beautiful poem read by a beautiful voice.
Excellent reading of a wonderful poem. WB is my favourite poet, but usually he is either read as if the reader is in a race or so slowly and full of exagereted deference as to lose the poetry.
It's beautiful.
At the age of 33, I sometimes feel very old, not on the outside, but on the inside…I've been through a lot of terrible things and now I've lost the compass of my path, the compass of which I never had, as if I'm lost and don't know where to go, but I know that God loves me and will find me.
No matter where you are in life, you will be invisible to most people. That’s ok as long as you are visible to your loved ones.
could not have picked a better choice of narrator . A beautiful Irish voice reciting the words of a brilliant Irish poet. so wonderful to listen to. thank you from Australia
Better to read yourself without the ding dong music…
Why would you play music while someone is talking?
Beautiful
Completely agree with John you definitely become invisible.
So much respect. This is why I call you not an actor, but a thespian. Much respect.
Love this guy. Talent and soul, and a loving faithful partner and father. What’s not to love?
I have learned, over and over, if you are a short, small man, you are dismissed, distained if are seen at all.
There was no poet greater in the history of the universe than Yeats.
If you are reading this, and you have a moment, please take the time to check out my poetry/channel. I'm definitely no Yeats, but I try my best.
He's saying: picture yourself when you are old…I truly love you and always will….but later when everyone else has left you and you are alone *because she turned him down
I’m pretty sure this is true for many older people. It’s political in nature. Past child bearing age, with every passing year your power diminishes. That’s why it’s so important to respect and love yourself unconditionally, whether you’re rich or poor, beautiful or plain, young or old. Always believe in yourself and no one can take away the essence of who you’ve been, inside, from birth.
Wish to hear his voice without the overlay of distracting music. Completely unnecessary.
well try not use in you muscles for 20…..
"Don't let the old man in"
Eh.
When I was a child I read this poenm and looked at my mother and my aunts and I wondered about when they were young. I realize that I now grew up in a very different time, might as well hasve been centuries ago. Yet young poeople like to relate to me, I suppose because in my heart I wish them a good life. I think of my parents' generation, they lived through such tragic times, they knew how to hsave lovely, cheerful elegant parties. They knew that I was in tune with the tragedies of their youth. I went on foolish adventures, some dangerous, none involving making any money, but I never suffered any real tragedy. I was relatively poor from a relatively poor family but appsarently i was raised with upper class manners (as were some of my childhood friends from professional crime families). After college )no debt, no one had debt from college) I fell in with a rich NYC crowd and I hsd some long deep conversations with a few famous people. I know the secrets of a prominent family. I keep secrets. Sometimes my heart breaks remembering people who should have received more love than they did. Thatr might be true of me, might not, but I hsave so many inner resources and they did not, or did not seem to hasve any. i have no doubt thst whast people who have had Near Deasth Experience report back.
Also by Yeats: ..
Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun,
Now may I wither into the truth.
I am 83. The last of the siblings and sisters-in-law and brother in law. I vividly remember my parents and my aunts and uncles, some cousins, one sibling. I live far from any relatives and have no contact with any of them. Solitude is OK with me. I'm a reader. I plug away at a writing project. I made many new friends after retrement but I grasuallu chose to withdraw from socializing. I still have my sense of humor and finf myself laughing a lot,m even in dreams. The dreams are vivid and beautiful and in some dead relatives show up. They're OK, nothing profound happens, just good company. i am grateful not to be homeless, able to buy healthy food.
I'm happy being old. So many glorious times, happy and sad, to reflect upon and so many gentle and wonderful people to remember. A life lived to the hilt and now slower with my gentle old dog as companion. I've had my turn and so I am happy and content.
That is lovely.
I had tears visiting Yeates’ grave.
Particularly true if one is a widow or a widower. I found that out far too soon and had to make myself known and therefore visible.
I look into the mirror and wonder whose that.. in my mind im still beautiful young girl…
Beautiful
Not good. Sad. sounds like you don’t care, but are acting without feeling or believing.
The thing is that none of it matters. People have lived on this earth for so long and each person had their purpose and truth which came with youth but faded fast. In our last years we sit and watch the people who come after us making the same mistakes. They only have to turn to us and ask, but they never do.