11 January 2009

Mellifluous Mondays: Peace Comes Dropping Slow

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree"
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.


And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.


I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

-William Butler Yeats

Innisfree is a small island in Lough Gill, County Sligo. Apparently, it had a special place in the Irishman Yeats' heart; he once remarked that this poem was "my first lyric with anything in its rhythm of my own music." I love the images (glimmering midnight, glowing noon, lake water lapping in the heart), and personally, the poem makes me really excited for my family's upcoming vacation to Maine. The rocky seashore makes me feel just like this, peaceful and content in God's beautiful creation. June can't come soon enough for me. :)

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