Brown Penny by William Butler Yeats
Brown Penny
William Butler YeatsI whispered, ‘I am too young,’
And then, ‘I am old enough’;
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
‘Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.’
Ay, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.
MARGINALIA
For A., because we both loved Yeats.
Because he did his laundry on Saturday nights. Because he’s good with children even if he’s afraid to have his own. Because he talked to his mother regularly. Because he wanted to be one of the Village People when he was a boy. Because he loved sashimi. Because he chased the woman of his dreams from country to country, even if that woman isn’t me. Because she said yes.
And because once, years ago, he loved me as I loved him.
Happy birthday.
ABOUT WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
Born in Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865, William Butler Yeats was the son of the well-known Irish painter, John Butler Yeats. His work after 1910 was strongly influenced by Ezra Pound, becoming more modern in its concision and imagery, but Yeats never abandoned his strict adherence to traditional verse forms. He had a life-long interest in mysticism and the occult, which was off-putting to some readers, but he remained uninhibited in advancing his idiosyncratic philosophy, and… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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nools
I love your words and the poetry interspersed throughout them. I wish I could dog-ear corners of your blog.
Summer
I am young. I am old enough.
God, I love that.
Kay
🙂
relishinaesthetics
Your words are heartbreaking