William Butler Yeats – The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water

Rembrandt van Rijn, Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto, 1634

I heard the old, old men say,
“Everything alters,
and one by one we drop away.”
They had hands like claws, and their knees
were twisted like the old thorn trees
by the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
“All that’s beautiful drifts away
like the waters.”

Ho udito i vecchi, i vecchissimi dire:
“Tutto muta,
e a uno a uno noi scompariamo”.
Avevano mani simili ad artigli, e le ginocchia
contorte come i pruni antichi
presso le acque.
Ho udito i vecchi, i vecchissimi dire:
“Tutto ciò che è bello trascorre via
come le acque”.