The Author William Butler Yeats

A Man Young And Old:- From Oedipus At Colonus

by


Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span;
Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man;
Delight becomes death-longing if all longing else be vain.

Even from that delight memory treasures so,
Death, despair, division of families, all entanglements of mankind grow,
As that old wandering beggar and these God-hated children know.

In the long echoing street the laughing dancers throng,
The bride is catried to the bridegroomÂ’s chamber through torchlight and tumultuous song;
I celebrate the silent kiss that ends short life or long.

Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day;
The second bestÂ’s a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.

10

facebook share button twitter share button reddit share button share on pinterest pinterest


Add A Man Young And Old:- From Oedipus At Colonus to your library.

Return to the William Butler Yeats library , or . . . Read the next poem; A Man Young And Old:- His Memories

© 2022 AmericanLiterature.com