Chick Flicks and Yeats

OK, there's probably only three people I know who will get this; Gail, Emily and Ber. It comes from a chick flick and I'm one of the few men who openly like chick flicks. Give me Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally any day over War of the Worlds or Independence Day (aren't they the same movie?)

So when Must Love Dogs came out, I didn't have to be dragged to see it. Emily and Gail already had and gave two thumbs up. It's about trying to find the perfect match via computer dating. But the highlight of the film is when Christopher Plummer recites a poem by Yeats. The measured beauty and profundity of the verse makes all the frantic scurrying and deceit of the dating services seem like so much wasted energy. So here it is for all you closet romantics who think love has passed you by:

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.
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.

Now wipe the tears.