on "WHEN YOU ARE OLD", of W.B. YEATS

Author Information

TREXPATTON

Offline

Last seen: 11 years 5 weeks ago

Joined: 2001/09/04

on "WHEN YOU ARE OLD", of W.B. YEATS

My face cannot be masked in any stars;

no mountain soars as high as my devotion;

no old-age curves me wayward from emotion;

no sad nor mute muttering  : True Love's still ours!

Mellowed---no!, not "aged"---your lovely face!

Ahh!, the Pilgrim of your soul keeps mine e'er-loving!

(No man loves Beauty with a love without truest meaning,

and the truest lust-for-life requires shared-grace!)

Oh!, yet LOST! in those cool, deep shadows of your eyes!

Oh!, the tale told---dreams dreamt---by what our Bloods move!

No fire's glaring tongues can devour the pages of my Love!,

nor Age's attacking sleeps e'er defeat Love's disguise:

       now  "ageless"  My Love, we neither wax nor wane

       like yon moon; we've joined our Muses once again!!

Author's Notes/Comments:

W.B. gave me the first 12 lines for my sonnet (why he didn't do one, I know not), but in order to not directly copy him, I reversed the order of his lines, still trying to feel his meaning, but not mentioning "Old Age"!! (shudder!). I wanted to stress the agelessness of Truth & Love. The whole concept was prompted by a response, by K. Tinsley, to a "Gimme 10" challenge; hers reminded me MUCH of this Yeats piece. And-on-and-on-and-on.... How did I do??