1 van mijn lievelingsgedichten is “When You Are Old” van William Butler Yeats. Yeats was lid van de Hermetische Orde van de Golden Dawn en zijn werk is doordrenkt met theosophie, mystiek en occultisme. Bij dit gedicht moet ik altijd denken aan de Tarotkaart 6 van Kelken die een soort nostalgische melancholie uitstraalt. Heerlijk!
When You Are Old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.