The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water

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.’

by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)