Welcome to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, June 25th, 2004. It is also my 13th wedding anniversary. I have mentioned before my love for the love poetry of William Butler Yates. In many ways, Yates gave me an early education in the

possibilities and potentials of love poetry. I think a collection of his love poems was maybe

the first book of poetry that I acquired with my own money. So it seemed appropriate to select one of those

poems today. Today's poem is Brown Penny by Yates. I'll read it once, say a few things about it, and then read it one more time.

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. Oh, 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.

This is very much the optimistic poetry of youth and young love, but it's a reasoning about love that flies in the face maybe of many

criticisms of young love. I love this poem because my own experience has borne out the

assertions of the poem. My wife and I were young, at least by today's standards,

and a good decade ahead of many national averages today for when people are

tending to get married.

I was barely 22, and she was 20 20 and we had no idea about a lot of things.

And yet looking back, it is the single best decision I've ever made.

I don't know if I can speak for her.

But for me, it's a certainty.

...