ON BEING ASKED FOR A WAR POEM

by: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

      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 meddling who can please
      A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
      Or an old man upon a winter's night.

"On Being Asked for a War Poem" is reprinted from The Wild Swans at Coole. W.B. Yeats. New York: Macmillan, 1919.

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