Deconstructing William Butler Yeats' "The Spur" (1938)

You think it horrible that lust and rage
Should dance attention upon my old age;
They were not such a plague when I was young;
What else have I to spur me into song?

First, it seems that "lust and rage" (l. 1) are very much components of Yeats' fascination with Ireland's pagan past. What else from this man's past requires him to have such strong feelings? He does not think it is necessarily a bad thing to be consumed with these desires at an "old age." Lust and rage are feelings usually associated with evil, so maybe they are the feelings of good natured people, implying that these feelings are good...He is also aware that these desires became more cumbersome as he aged, but how old is "old age?" "Old age" (l. 2) could quite possibly the same as "young" (l. 3), depending on one's perspective. So, maybe lust and rage were in fact very much a part of what he describes as his youth, implying that he was void of innocence; thus the pagan desires are manifesting themselves once again. When youth is age, Yeats may be contradicting himself since it is quite possible that lust and rage may surface at any time. Surely there are several other desires, both "good" and "bad" that may "spur" (l. 4) him to write poetry, and Yeats may not want to aknowledge this.