THERE is grey in your hair.
Young men no longer suddenly catch their breath
When you are passing;
But maybe some old gaffer mutters a blessing
Because it was your prayer
Recovered him upon the bed of death.
For your sole sake - that all heart's ache have known,
And given to others all heart's ache,
From meagre girlhood's putting on
Burdensome beauty - for your sole sake
Heaven has put away the stroke of her doom,
So great her portion in that peace you make
By merely walking in a room.
Your beauty can but leave among us
Vague memories, nothing but memories.
A young man when the old men are done talking
Will say to an old man, "Tell me of that lady
The poet stubborn with his passion sang us
When age might well have chilled his blood.'
Vague memories, nothing but memories,
But in the grave all, all, shall be renewed.
The certainty that I shall see that lady
Leaning or standing or walking
In the first loveliness of womanhood,
And with the fervour of my youthful eyes,
Has set me muttering like a fool.
You are more beautiful than any one,
And yet your body had a flaw:
Your small hands were not beautiful,
And I am afraid that you will run
And paddle to the wrist
In that mysterious, always brimming lake
Where those What have obeyed the holy law
paddle and are perfect. Leave unchanged
The hands that I have kissed,
For old sake's sake.
The last stroke of midnight dies.
All day in the one chair
From dream to dream and rhyme to rhyme I have
ranged
In rambling talk with an image of air:
Vague memories, nothing but memories.

 

gaffer : (공장 노동자·운동 팀 등의) 감독 / (영화·텔레비전의) 조명 담당자 

mutter : 중얼거림

meagre : (양·질이) 빈약한[변변찮은] (=paltry) 

fervour (fervor) : 열정 (=enthusiasm) 

paddle : (작은 보트, 특히 카누용의 짧은) 노 

brimming : 넘쳐흐르는, 가득 차게 부은 

rhyme : 운(음조가 비슷한 글자) / (두 단어나 음절이) 운이 맞다[각운을 이루다] 

rambling : (특별한 패턴이 없이) 되는 대로 퍼져 나가는 (=sprawling) / 횡설수설하는, 장황하고 두서없는 (=incoherent) 

 

 

 

 

 

윌리엄 버틀러 예이츠 (William Butler Yeats, 1865년 6월 13일, 아일랜드 - 1939년 1월 28일): 아일랜드 시인 겸 극작가. 환상적이며 시적인《캐서린 백작부인》을 비롯하여 몇 편의 뛰어난 극작품을 발표했으며 1923년에는 노벨문학상을 수상하였다. 독자적 신화로써 자연(자아)의 세계와 자연 부정(예술)의 세계의 상극을 극복하려 노력했다.  

 

+ Recent posts