William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939 / County Dublin / Ireland)
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 101 / 402
For Anne Gregory
'NEVER shall a young man,
Thrown into despair
By those great honey-coloured
Ramparts at your ear,
Love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.'
'But I can get a hair-dye
And set such colour there,
Brown, or black, or carrot,
That young men in despair
May love me for myself alone
And not my yellow hair.'
'I heard an old religious man
But yesternight declare
That he had found a text to prove
That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.'
William Butler Yeats
Submitted: Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Read poems about / on: despair, hair, alone, god, love
Poems by William Butler Yeats : 101 / 402
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I love the lines about the old religious man and love the idea that you might find an ancient text that proves something, beyond doubt.