The Lake Isle of Innisfree

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,          5 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;   10 While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,       I hear it in the deep heart's core. William Butler Yeats I was an English major in college, but failed to thrive as such.  When it came to the scholarly analysis of literary texts, I never  seemed to “get it.” I was, however, immensely affected by some  of the material we studied, such as the poem shown above. No   matter that my professor regarded Lake Isle of Innisfree as an  interesting  example of Yeats’ immature work, but scarcely worth  serious scholarly attention. It got serious attention from me, and still does, because when I  read it I am once again standing on the shore of North hero Island  with my grandson, discussing  the merits of voluntary fasting;  I am once again on that same lake, fishing in a  boat with my sons when they were younger; or with my father,  when I myself  was young. Speaking of my father, it so happens that he died on this day,  August 21, in 1981. I was with him, and few moments before  he died,  he roused himself from a deep coma  and cried out,  “Jonathan! The boatman!” And now, when I read of “…lake water  lapping with low sounds by the shore,” I am once again in a boat  with him, and he  s rowing while my sister and I fish, lines trailing  out behind. “I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”

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