Before the World Was Made

by William Butler Yeats

If I make the lashes dark

And the eyes more bright

And the lips more scarlet,

Or ask if all be right

From mirror after mirror,

No vanity's displayed:

I'm looking for the face I had

Before the world was made.

What if I look upon a man

As though on my beloved,

And my blood be cold the while

And my heart unmoved?

Why should he think me cruel

Or that he is betrayed?

I'd have him love the thing that was

Before the world was made.

=====================================

I feel like you're all so young. I know it sounds condescending and a little foolish. I'm supposed to be the childish one after all.

Still, it's a little cute. And one day you too will lose this confusion, this little innocence; Would it be selfish to hope you keep even a smudge, a speck, a memory of what it was like?