The Three Hermits

W.B. Yeats (1865-1939). Responsibilities and Other Poems. 1916.

The Three Hermits

THREE old hermits took the air
By a cold and desolate sea,
First was muttering a prayer,
Second rummaged for a flea;
On a windy stone, the third,                             5
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird.