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by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

The secrets of the old
Language: English 
I have old women's secrets now
That had those of the young;
Madge tells me what I dared not think
When my blood was strong,
And what had drowned a lover once
Sounds like an old song.

Though Marg'ry is stricken dumb
If thrown in Madge's way,
We three make up a solitude;
For none alive today
Can know the stories that we know
Or say the things we say:

How such a man pleased women most
Of all that are gone,
How such a pair loved many years
And such a pair but one,
Stories of the bed of straw
Or the bed of down.

First published in London Mercury, May 1927 as one of "Two Songs from the Old Countryside", then included as one of "The Old Countryman" in October Blast (1927), then included as one of "A Man Young and Old" in The Tower

Text Authorship:

  • by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The secrets of the old", appears in The Tower [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "The secrets of the old", op. 13 (Four songs for voice and piano) no. 2 (1938) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 106

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