45. Song of the Old Mother. William Butler Yeats. Modern British Poetry

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.

William Butler Yeats. 1865–

45. The Song of the Old Mother

I RISE in the dawn, and I kneel and blow
Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow.
And then I must scrub, and bake, and sweep,
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep;
But the young lie long and dream in their bed	5
Of the matching of ribbons, the blue and the red,
And their day goes over in idleness,
And they sigh if the wind but lift up a tress.
While I must work, because I am old
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.	10