Song of the Old Mother

"Song of the Old Mother" is a poem by William Butler Yeats that first appeared in The Wind Among the Reeds anthology, published in 1899.

The subject of the poem is in fact a maid of some kind[citation needed], employed in a wealthy household.

This would increase the resentment she feels, experiencing almost abject jealousy of not having the option to live that kind of life.

The poem is not a glorified message on the human condition, merely an Old Mother's views, possibly never expressed in real life.

Poem: I rise in the dawn, and I kneel and blow Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow; And then I must scrub and bake and sweep Till stars are beginning to blink and peep; And the young lie long and dream in their bed Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head, And their days go over in idleness, And they sigh if the wind but lift a tress: While I must work because I am old, And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.