She Remembers the Famous Poets
Quand vous serez bien vieille, le soir, à la chandelle . . . (Ronsard)
When you are old and grey and full of sleep. . . (Yeats)
Now I am old and grey and sit alone beside my fire,
I think of lovely boys I knew when I was young and fair.
And some of them wrote poems about my eyes and their desire,
My winsome Irish Willie and my gallant French Pierre.
It makes me smile to think about how we made love, and all
The tender things they told me, as I gaze into the flames
These winter nights; but, Lord! I never can recall
A single word of all they wrote, or even their last names.
Ursula K. Le Guin is the author of many works of enviable scope and craft — science fiction, essays, poetry, translations, and intriguing interviews. Go seek! The poem above is from the Longhouse title Four Different Poems pictured below.
