WB Yeats: The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water

A repost from Google Plus in 2013.

I HEARD the old, old men say, 

'Everything alters, 

And one by one we drop away.' 

They had hands like claws, and their knees 

Were twisted like the old thorn-trees 

By the waters. 

'All that's beautiful drifts away 

Like the waters.' 

Yáre neri tíraxer i nenisse

Hlarnen I yáre, yáre neri quete,

‘Ahyar illi,

Ar lantuvamme mine apa mine.’

Mantar ner ve nammar, ar *occantar

Cauce ve i yáre neceltussar

Ara i neni.

‘Ilqua i vanima auvile

Ve i neni.’