Red Hanrahan’s Song About Ireland
July 6, 2023Presences
July 6, 2023Quarrel In Old Age
WHERE had her sweetness gone?
What fanatics invent
In this blind bitter town,
Fantasy or incident
Not worth thinking of,
put her in a rage.
I had forgiven enough
That had forgiven old age.
All lives that has lived;
So much is certain;
Old sages were not deceived:
Somewhere beyond the curtain
Of distorting days
Lives that lonely thing
That shone before these eyes
Targeted, trod like Spring.
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish poet, playwright, and political activist who was one of the most important figures of the Irish literary revival. He is known for his use of Irish mythology and for his exploration of the themes of love, death, and rebirth. His most famous works include "The Tower" and "The Wild Swans at Coole." Yeats was also a senator in the Irish Free State and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.