I have old women's secrets now
That had those of the young;
Madge tells me what I dared not think
When my blood was strong,
And what had drowned a lover once
Sounds like an old song.

Though Margery is stricken dumb
If thrown in Madge's way,
We three make up a solitude;
For none alive to-day
Can know the stories that we know
Or say the things we say:

How such a man pleased women most
Of all that are gone,
How such a pair loved many years
And such a pair but one,
Stories of the bed of straw
Or the bed of down.

Added: Feb 20 2003 | Viewed: 1319 times | Comments (0)

Poet: William Butler Yeats
Poem: A Man Young And Old: IX. The Secrets Of The Old
Volume: The Tower
Year: Published/Written in 1928
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