W. B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, was born at Sandymount, Ireland. on 13 June 1865

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.”

Beautiful poem full of melancholy about old men looking at their reflections in a river. The image they see is altered by the water, just as time has altered their physical appearance. They look like old gnarled and twisted trees reflected on the surface of the river.
They are discussing ageing, the loss of many of their friends and family (“One by one we drop away”), the passing of everything and compare death to drifting away of the waters.

I vecchi che si ammirano nell’acqua

Ho sentito i vecchi, molto vecchi, dire:
“Tutto cambia,
e a uno a uno noi ce ne andiamo”
Avevano le mani come artigli e le ginocchia
erano contorte come vecchi biancospini
accanto alle acque.
Ho sentito i vecchi, molto vecchi, dire:
“Tutto ciò che è bello scorre via
come le acque”
(trad: L.Z.)