On Being Asked For A War Poem

William Butler Yeats

I THINK it better that in times like these
A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He has had enough of medding who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
Or an old man upon a winter's night.

Next 10 Poems

• William Butler Yeats : On Hearing That The Students Of Our New University Have Joined The Agitation Against Immoral Literature
• William Butler Yeats : On Those That Hated The 'playboy Of The Western World,' 1907
• William Butler Yeats : On Woman
• William Butler Yeats : Owen Aherne And His Dancers
• William Butler Yeats : Parnell
• William Butler Yeats : Parnell's Funeral
• William Butler Yeats : Parting
• William Butler Yeats : Paudeen
• William Butler Yeats : Peace
• William Butler Yeats : Politics

Previous 10 Poems

• William Butler Yeats : On A Political Prisoner
• William Butler Yeats : On A Picture Of A Black Centaur By Edmund Dulac
• William Butler Yeats : Old Tom Again
• William Butler Yeats : Old Memory
• William Butler Yeats : Oil And Blood
• William Butler Yeats : O Do Not Love Too Long
• William Butler Yeats : No Second Troy
• William Butler Yeats : Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen
• William Butler Yeats : News For The Delphic Oracle
• William Butler Yeats : Never Give All The Heart