Why White Moths on Wing?

So in high school I was a very swoony, romantic creature.  I had long brown hair and very pale skin.   

Ophelia

John William Waterhouse, 1849-1917
 

Thank goodness I've outgrown most of that.  But sometimes, every now and again, there are secret remnants of that swoony, silly high school girl.  For example, I still harbor a love of Yeats' poetry.  White Moths on Wing comes from a Yeats poem that is quoted in the romantic book The Bridges of Madison County (this link goes to Amazon and the exact copy I read and re-read as a teen).  Frankly I overdosed on that book.

I still love the poem though. So let me present:

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS

by: W.B. Yeats

I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread;

 

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

 

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire a-flame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And some one called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.

 

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.