Brown Penny - W. B. Yeats

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.

It's my favourite poem.  I love the simplicity of it, the honesty of the writer's voice.  I love the sound of hope he has that he will find love and the reverence he has for the "loops of her hair".  I'm not much for poetry with the exception of Yeats.  But this is one of the few that floats around my mind on a regular basis.  The optimism of youth.