It isn't too surprising. I write better poetry than he does.
I also sing and dance better than Michael Jackson, and I can even paint better than Vincent Van Gogh.
The reason for this apparent braggadocio on my part is that these people have stopped doing any of this, and I have not.
Another advantage I have over Yeats is that some of his language comes across as distant and stilted. Everyone knows that stilted language leads to higher thinking, but I'm just trying to get a mental image across, with my traditional trademark twist at the end.
Then again, Yeats' poem quoted above had an unusual rhyme scheme, being x a x a x a x a x a x a, where the x denotes unrhymed words and the "a" denotes words that rhyme with each other. As I said, unusual.
Here's one of mine (in keeping with the above "Smile" theme), showing the rhyme scheme a a b b, c c d d, e e f f. Somewhat more dense rhyming, and only slightly more difficult. As my friend David says, "Just put the words that rhyme at the end of the line." It's been working so far.
“They told us of dangers of music and dance,
But I felt in control and I took on the chance.
Seems my luck got quite dizzy and it went on the skids,
You can tell what came next by my wife and my kids!”
I presume that was the last dance you attended. Otherwise, bigamy and too many children could become a problem.
I like your poem too, NnB. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Did you post it at the old place? It kinda seems familiar.
Hope your Thursday was Terrific.
BRAVO! Nice pome.