William Butler Yeats

Girl's Song

Girl's Song - meaning Summary

Desire Blurred by Perception

A speaker intends to sing about her romantic fancy but is interrupted by the sight of another man who relies on a stick. The encounter collapses simple desire into uncertainty: the observer cannot tell whether the man is old or young, and her song ends in tears. The poem examines how brief encounters and perception blur attraction, aging, and disappointment, leaving desire unresolved and ambiguous.

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I went out alone To sing a song or two, My fancy on a man, And you know who. Another came in sight That on a stick relied To hold himself upright; I sat and cried. And that was all my song - When everything is told, Saw I an old man young Or young man old?

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