The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner

                THE LAMENTATION OF THE OLD PENSIONER

                     by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

ALTHOUGH I shelter from the rain

Under a broken tree

My chair was nearest to the fire

In every company

That talked of love or politics,

Ere Time transfigured me.

Though lads are making pikes again

For some conspiracy,

And crazy rascals rage their fill

At human tyranny,

My contemplations are of Time

That has transfigured me.

There's not a woman turns her face

Upon a broken tree,

And yet the beauties that I loved

Are in my memory;

I spit into the face of Time

That has transfigured me.

 I’ve chosen this poem because the title caught my attention. After reading the poem and after doing some research, I found that this is the story of an old man who remembers all the good moments he had when he was young, his friends, the talks about love and politics, the woman he loved. And now, he feels sad because time passes and he is left alone with his memories. Time has changed him and now he misses his youth.

 The first time I read the poem, it made me feel sad and think about my grandparents and about old people. Sometimes we think that they are fine but we don’t really know how they are.

The poem has evoked old, black and white images and pale colours such as yellow or white.