William Butler Yeats: "When You Are Old"

William Butler Yeats: "When You Are Old"


When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.


"Quando fores velha" (Tradução de Adriano Nunes)


Quando fores velha e triste e cansada,
E em ordem co' o fogo, pega este livro
E lê lentamente, e lembra o olhar vivo
Que tinhas, e da sombra aprofundada.

Amaram-te dias de graça grácil,
E teu fulgor co' amor falso ou sincero,
Mas amou-te um ser n'alma o destempero,
E as mágoas da tua face volátil.

E curvando-te à lenha incandescente,
Murmura, amarga, como o amor fugiu
E seguiu monte acima, a subir sempre
E a face em grupos d'astros encobriu.




In: YEATS, William Butler. "The love poems". London: Kyle Cathie Limited, 2010, page 31. Edited with an indrotuction and notes by A. Norman Jeffares.