When We Are Old

I am currently captivated by the following poem. Maybe it is the bittersweet melancholy that drips from each line. Or maybe it is the way it speaks to the youth-obsessed love culture of the 21st century, which worships beauty and perfection. 

Yeats champions the strength and longevity of true love and challenges us to look beyond the superficial to the beauty of the soul and the “changing faces” of age. His words reinforce what we already know to be true - that the greatest thing is to be known deeply and loved in a way that isn’t diminished by the years.

It is also a poem about looking back and wondering if you made the right choices in life and love. We know that one slight shift in direction can propel us in vastly different directions.

What will we think back on as we age? What will we regret and what will we cherish? What tales of love and loss will invade our memories? What will our stories tell of how we loved and were loved?

When You Are Old

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.

                                    - William Butler Yeats