When You Are Old

The 28 year old Yeats has been rejected again by Maud Gone and he is using all his lyrical skills to see if he can persuade her to change her mind.  He is asking her to visualise what life will be like without him when she is old and grey.  Her star as an actress will have faded while his as a poet will have soared. While he is unsuccessful in his pursuit of Maud Gonne, he has no doubts about his future as a major poet.

Spoken Word
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.

Other Versions

Recording Notes
Arrangement, recording, guitar and flute Ronan McCauley.