If we can't actually be there, let us have such a place in our hearts and imaginations when we are "on the roadway, or the pavements grey".
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
By William Butler Yeats
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.
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.
It's amazing to me how seemingly careless people have become about wearing masks and keeping their distance while out and about. Disheartening. The poem is one I love so much. I'm familiar with Judy Collin's rendition, but not this artist. Very lovely.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Mary
I do get the feeling that "care less" is a truth for some.
DeleteShe is Jacqui McShee. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqui_McShee
Yes, the news (fires, heat wave, politics, and COVID) is very upsetting. I've weaned myself off of most of the news feeds I used to follow online, particularly those pertaining to the upcoming election. As you know, we live in a tourist area and this past summer we saw cars with license plates from all over the country. No different from any other summer, but it makes me wonder about all the hotels these folks stayed in on their way to our area. Tourists from all four corners of the country. I hope we don't see a spike in numbers after this holiday weekend, but that's wishful thinking, I'm afraid. We just continue to hunker down. Lovely poem and rendition. Thank you, Nan. BTW, I love the photo of your tomatoes! What an amazing close-up shot.
ReplyDeleteThose tomatoes are long ago eaten! Thought I'd better put up a new picture.
DeleteThe only news I read is state and local - to see about cases. And I read the Guardian UK and International to see how other countries are doing. I'm so sad especially about India.
I do NOT read about politics.
Very beautiful. Very peaceful. You are wise to seek out art which can give you peace and beauty in these times.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it just drops into my consciousness accidentally. I was looking up Jacqui McShee because I am deep into a book called Electric Eden by Rob Young, and this song came up. I am a big Yeats fan, and thought this so lovely.
DeleteSuch an idyllic place. Beautiful poem and sang with just the perfect feeling. A nice way to begin a day. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteHope you are doing okay. Have you tried dealing with your photos and the new blogger again?
DeleteOur granddaughters are headed to in-class school starting on Wednesday in Cornish. We have pick up duties on Thursdays at 11 for pre K and 3 for 1st grader. I wonder what we will be exposed to in our new grandparent duties.
ReplyDeleteMy grandsons are doing remote learning - maybe for the year, maybe not. My granddaughter does remote from the 10th-21st, and then she heads to school. Many of her friends she has seen this summer - what we all call our "pods", the people we feel safe with so I am trying to not worry about her. Do you know about this?
Deletehttps://www.nh.gov/covid19/dashboard/schools.htm#dash
You can check all the schools to see where there are cases.
Thank you for sharing this lovely poem with us. I find poetry so comforting, especially in stressful times. I have to say that for the most part people in Manhattan where I live are really good about masks. And as much as I dislike them, I can't imagine going out without wearing a mask.
ReplyDeleteI agree about poetry.
DeleteI am so used to the mask now that it is just a part of my life, though I don't go many places so I rarely have to wear it. Anytime we go anywhere though, the masks are with us.
One of my favorite poems! What a beautiful version; it is so calming and pleasant to begin my morning with this. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm very pleased you liked it.
DeleteNan, I've about given up on the notion that most people have a lick of common sense anymore. Both my daughters are back at work in local public schools and some of the stories they've told me already are enough to make me turn in my human-race-membership-card.
ReplyDeleteAs my Irish friend says, "Jaysus".
DeleteI understand the yearning to be somewhere else but not the recklessness to go there and disregard local protocols. I took my mother to NH to look at used cars last week and it was exhilarating to be in another state with beautiful mountains on the horizon. Of course, we didn't interact with anyone but the also-masked car salespeople. I don't travel as much as many people but in a normal six month period I would visit my sister in NYC at least once. If I'd known my February trip to Philadelphia and New York would be my last travel of 2020, I wouldn't have complained about the rain!
ReplyDeleteYou were here! Those are "my" mountains!! Did she buy a car??
DeleteWith me, the "last" was a haircut on March 13!
This has been a favorite of mine since junior high but I've never heard it read before, much less sung. Thank you for that. I'm pulling it off on my desktop to enjoy again. I often thought that the lines I memorized in 7th grade of it, "nine bean rows will I have there", planted a longing for a little farmhouse in the country that never left me. I guess it reached somewhere in me that came from farming grandparents.
ReplyDeleteI read in the comment where you had last been out in early March. I've had to be out for 3 doctor visits and once I went in a local antique store followed by my only trip to the grocery store. Each time I've counted off the 15 days afterwards worried about every sore throat I got. I have a feeling I will be staying in for the next 9 months or so except when a doctor must be seen. I can't really see it being safe before that. Perhaps I'll then be too old to want to get out and go anywhere?
Oh, I wasn't clear! I have been out to friends' houses, and the Co-op grocery store and the Farmers' Market, and to my kids' houses. But the haircut was the last normal place I went before the virus.
DeleteI LOVE that about the line speaking to you in the 7th grade!! I bet a lot of us around this age had grandparents who farmed.
I hope the doc visits weren't anything bad.
I didn't know you had self-quarantined all this time. I wonder how the cases are where you live.