The Wild Swans at Coole

Yeats is over 50 by the time he writes this poem.  He has aged and the world around him has changed and he reflects on this against a background of the unchanging nature of the Swans at Coole.

The Wild Swans at Coole 


THE TREES are in their autumn beauty, 
The woodland paths are dry, 
Under the October twilight the water 
Mirrors a still sky; 
Upon the brimming water among the stones         5
Are nine and fifty swans. 
  
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me 
Since I first made my count; 
I saw, before I had well finished, 
All suddenly mount  10
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings 
Upon their clamorous wings. 
  
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, 
And now my heart is sore. 
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,  15
The first time on this shore, 
The bell-beat of their wings above my head, 
Trod with a lighter tread. 
  
Unwearied still, lover by lover, 
They paddle in the cold,  20
Companionable streams or climb the air; 
Their hearts have not grown old; 
Passion or conquest, wander where they will, 
Attend upon them still. 
  
But now they drift on the still water  25
Mysterious, beautiful; 
Among what rushes will they build, 
By what lake’s edge or pool 
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day 
To find they have flown away?

Spoken word Versions

Recorded at Contact Studios, Tallaght.  Recording Engineer and Instrumentalist Gerry Horan.  Vocals and Guitar Tony Bardon. Backing Vocalist Danai Kelleher ​