The old men admiring themselves in the water | I heard the old, old men say

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

I heard the old, old men say

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

I heard the old, old men say,
"Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away."
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
"All that's beautiful drifts away,
Like the waters."

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in Pall Mall Magazine, January 1903

Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 82.

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The old men admiring themselves in the water", appears in In the Seven Woods [author's text checked 2 times 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Old men", 2010 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Keith Warren Bissell (1912 - 1992), "The old men admiring themselves in the water", 1973 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Waters", copyright © 1977 [ soprano and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 2, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
by Robert Leon Rollin (b. 1947), "The old men" [ baritone, flute, violin, viola, and violoncello ], from Four Songs of Dreams and Love [sung text not yet checked]
by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The old men admiring themselves in the water", 1997, published 1999, from Evidence of Things Not Seen, no. 32 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "The old men admiring themselves in the water" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "The old men admiring themselves in the water", published 1971 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Old Age [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-08-04
Line count: 9
Word count: 48