The Tower (1928)

Study of an Old Man, by Rembrandt

The Tower

(excerpt)

I

What shall I do with this absurdity —
O heart, O troubled heart — this caricature,
Decrepit age that has been tied to me
As to a dog's tail?
Never had I more
Excited, passionate, fantastical
Imagination, nor an ear and eye
That more expected the impossible —
No, not in boyhood when with rod and fly,
Or the humbler worm, I climbed Ben Bulben's back
And had the livelong summer day to spend.
It seems that I must bid the Muse go pack,
Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friend
Until imagination, ear and eye,
Can be content with argument and deal
In abstract things; or be derided by
A sort of battered kettle at the heel.

II

I pace upon the battlements and stare
On the foundations of a house, or where
Tree, like a sooty finger, starts from the earth;
And send imagination forth
Under the day's declining beam, and call
Images and memories
From ruin or from ancient trees,
For I would ask a question of them all.
...

The poem, described by Wikipedia as "a passionate indictment of a man wrestling with age", can be read in its entirety here. It was written by W.B. Yeats, who died on this date in 1939 in France at the age of 73.

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I've shared all the snow people I have for this season, although I have a few that serve as Christmas tree decorations. Maybe I should put some of those with winter decorations so I have enough to post one a day through January. Here's Sia's song "Snowman":