11.11.09

W. B. YEATS

The Scholars


BALD heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
Edit and annotate the lines
That young men, tossing on their beds,
Rhymed out in love’s despair 5
To flatter beauty’s ignorant ear.

They’ll cough in the ink to the world’s end;
Wear out the carpet with their shoes
Earning respect; have no strange friend;
If they have sinned nobody knows. 10
Lord, what would they say
Should their Catullus walk that way?

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

(Μακριά από εμάς η ανωτέρω περιγραφή! Στη Μυτιλήνη ελπίζω να μην επαναλάβουμε τον τελευταίο στίχο!)

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