THE SCHOLARS

Bald heads forgetful of their sins,

Old, learned, respectable bald heads

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That young men, tossing on their beds,

Rhymed out in love’s despair

To flatter beauty's ignorant ear.

All shuffle there; all cough in ink;

All wear the carpet with their shoes;

All think what other people think;

All know the man their neighbour knows.

Lord, what would they say

Did their Catullus walk that way?

            —W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)