The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W.B. Yeats

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 beans rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,

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. 

W. B. Yeats, 1865 - 1939

Photos above of "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" on Lough Gill

The Song Of Wandering Aengus by W.B. Yeats

The Song Of Wandering Aengus

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 someone had 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 the dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done,

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

W. B. Yeats, 1865 - 1939

"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;"

"I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout."

"And faded through the brightening air."

"And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among the dappled grass,"

"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;"

"The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun"