The Lover Pleads with His Friend for Old Friends
Though you are in your shining days,
Voices among the crowd
And new friends busy with your praise,
Be not unkind or proud,
But think about old friends the most:
Time’s bitter flood will rise,
Your beauty perish and be lost
For all eyes but these eyes.
Credit
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 20, 2015, by the Academy of American Poets.
About this Poem
“The Lover Pleads with His Friend for Old Friends” was published in The Wind Among the Reeds (John Lane Company, 1899).
Author
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats, widely considered one of the greatest poets of the English language, received the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature. His work was greatly influenced by the heritage and politics of Ireland.
Date Published
01/01/1899