Featured Poem: Brown Penny by W.B. Yeats

Our selection of Featured Poem this week has been inspired by the Penny Readings, which is just over a month away. Tickets are available today to the public, and they're expected to sell fast so make sure you get in early and don't miss your chance to be at this year's festive extravaganza of reading and entertainment. All the details can be found on our website: https://www.thereader.org.uk/events/penny-readings

A penny doesn't just get you entry into our famous Penny Readings; in this poem by W.B. Yeats it seems it can predict the future and the promise of love, although it may be 'crooked'...

Brown Penny

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.

W.B. Yeats