That Hollow Moon

02 July 2025

https://poems.culturing.net/2025/07/that-hollow-moon/

We sat grown quiet at the name of love;
We saw the last embers of daylight die,
And in the trembling blue-green of the sky
A moon, worn as if it had been a shell
Washed by time's waters as they rose and fell
About the stars and broke in days and years.

I had a thought for no one's but your ears:
That you were beautiful, and that I strove
To love you in the old high way of love;
That it had all seemed happy, and yet we'd grown
As weary-hearted as that hollow moon.
    - Yeats, Adam's Curse

Moon shines ever new, a changing world,
as we, thrust in the void, spin madly,
daring not to be deceived, but also
floundering. Oh, if only the old high way
could save us, bring back to earth the faith
that once illuminated ancient hearts. But
it is lost, and has been lost for quite some time.

Can time redeem us, or is time itself
most doubtful, playing cards with all our hearts,
without remorse? We sit grown quiet too.