According to A. Norman Jeffares A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats this poem was written on 21 October 1891 and first appeared  in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892). It is founded upon but is not a translation of Ronsard's "Quand Vous Serez Bien Vielle" from Sonnets pour Hélène, II (1578).