Highlight Poetry (13)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

When You Are Old

by William Butler Yeats

When 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.

I read in this poem a plea from the narrator to his love to realize her mistake in overlooking his devotion and to change before she would regret it.  A little presumptuous, but romantic.  I love the progression from quiet repose to sorrow with each stanza, and the line "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" such a beautifully constructed sentiment.  That line is my favorite of the poem.  I hope the lady in the poem did think twice!