When you are old | When you are old and gray and full of sleep

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Maude Gonne takes down a book

Language: English

Our translations: CHI FRE GER HUN ITA

When you are old and gray 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.

Composition:

Stephen Wilkinson

Eternal Summer

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "When you are old", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, appears in The Rose, first published 1892

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: Garth Baxter

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 100

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