PICTURE and book remain,
An acre of green grass
For air and exercise,
Now strength of body goes;
Midnight, an old house
Where nothing stirs but a mouse.
My temptation is quiet.
Here at life's end
Neither loose imagination,
Nor the mill of the mind
Consuming its rag and bone,
Can make the truth known.
Grant me an old man's frenzy,
Myself must I remake
Till I am Timon and Lear
Or that William Blake
Who beat upon the wall
Till Truth obeyed his call;
A mind Michael Angelo knew
That can pierce the clouds,
Or inspired by frenzy
Shake the dead in their shrouds;
Forgotten else by mankind,
An old man's eagle mind.
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Comments3WOW, WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS REALLY CAPTURED THE ESSENCE OF GROWING OLD IN THIS POEM. I LOVE THE PART WHERE HE MENTIONS "A MIND MICHAEL ANGELO KNEW THAT CAN PIERCE THE CLOUDS." BEAUTIFUL!
REALLY FELT THE STRONG LINES LIKE 'MYSELF MUST I REMAKE TILL I AM TIMON AND LEAR' HIT ME HARD. THE POWER AND EMOTION OF THE WORDS, THE ENERGH OF IT. IT'S LIKE ANOTHER WORLD FULLY OF INTENSE EMOTIONS. CAN SAY IT MADE ME THINK. WAS REALLY MOVED BY IT! LOTS OF WORDS DEEP AND SO VERY MEANINGFUL.
This poem hit me, 'strength of body goes'...so relatable and raw.