Public-domain source text

The Old Men Admirings Themselves in the Water

by W. B. Yeats

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/w-b-yeats_poetry

I heard the old, old men say, “Everything alters, And one by one we drop away.” They had hands like claws, and their knees Were twisted like the old thorn trees By the waters. I heard the old, old men say, “All that’s beautiful drifts away Like the waters.”

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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