• Home
  • About
  • Reflections
  • Poetry
    • My Poems
    • Guest Poets
    • Selected Poems
    • Classic Poets
    • Classic Love Poems
    • Zen Poetry, Haiku, and Wisdom
  • Essays
  • Inspiration
    • The Greatest Gift
    • Native Voices
    • Petals of Sunshine
    • Mandalas and More
    • Tentra Nepalese Totem
    • Videos to Inspire and Motivate
  • Quotes
  • Guestbook
  • Sitemap

Inspiration for the Spirit

A lovely place to wander for poetry and inspiration to soothe the soul

Home ▷ Selected Poems ▷ When You Are Old

When You Are Old

by William Butler Yeats

Photo by Tamas Tuzes-KataWhen you are old and grey 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.

Selection from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF W. B. YEATS, Scribner Paper Fiction, 1989.
Photo by Tamas Tuzes-Katai.

You might also like

Getting Up
A Birthday Gift
Open Mind, Open Heart
Fire and Ice

Filed under aging, life & living, love.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

The Poetry Pages

My Poems
Guest Poets
Selected Poems
Classic Poets
Classic Love Poems
Zen Poetry, Haiku, and Wisdom

Featured Poem

walking in the rain

October Morning Rain

by Sally Boland

The leaves dulled out this year, too dry to make scarlets or flashing golds, and so this rain strips them off quick, quicker than a knife scales a fish. Pain, far-away thunder, rumbles my ... Read more

Random Poems

be happy
glasses

Explore and Enjoy

aging autumn being female cancer children comfort & compassion courage & strength death divorce dreams & desires family father flowers & gardens friends & friendship grief & sadness happiness hope & optimism illness inner peace inspiring learning & growth life & living loneliness love love lost loving yourself marriage mindful living mother motherhood music Native American nature people places poetry & writing positive attitude quotes relationships sex & sexuality simplicity solitude spirit spring winter

Looking for a specific poet or author?

Inspiration for the Spirit EST 2002 • Copyright © 2023 Patricia Petro • LOGIN

«