"THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS" by W.B. Yeats

Here is another poem we discussed in Literature 14: Poetry and Drama. It's a beautiful poem by the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet William Butler Yeats when he was obsessed with occultism and Irish legends.

"THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS" by William Butler Yeats


I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut an peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
and moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hallow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.