Poem of the Week 54 : 'Brown Penny'

Our 54th Poem of the Week is W.B. Yeats's 'Brown Penny'. Yeats's poems again feature in Poetry Aloud this year. And again, both the exhibition itself and the website in the National Library are highly recommended.

I whispered, "I am too young,"
And then, "I am old enough";
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
"Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair."
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.