On Being Asked for a War Poem

by W.B. Yeats (1919)

I think it better that in times like these
A poet keep his mouth shut, 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.


Monadnock Valley Press > Yeats