When You Are Old

A little gem from the famed Irish poet, William Butler Yeats:

When You Are Old
by W.B. Yeats
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 among the stars.