Photos under the Sun

…And go to Innisfree”: a line in a beautiful poem by William Butler Yeats, a much lauded poet and playwright from my homeland, Ireland.  Ironically, there were and ARE so many more Irish women who were and are super-talented (my sister, Brigitte, for instance, a great author at  http://brigittedowney.co.uk/index.html ) who did not get the same reverence from the opposite gender.  Despite that, I shall be ever so gracious and showcase the author and the words of the only poem I could ever remember growing up in Ireland. Besides, his poetry still keeps me shivering with delight by its savage veracity and beauty.  It saved me many a time when I was asked to recite something.  Please don’t EVER ask me to quote something.  I’ll screw it up and you’ll be forever scratching your brain.   I get the essence and that is more important, in my little view.

Now I have to add, some of my all-time faves back then, were Verlaine and Baudelaire.  We’ll get to them in another post.  Back to Yeats – somehow, his words: “And I shall have some peace there” rang some bell for me and my little casa here in Florida is named after Innisfree.  Though I’ve never been there, I think it might have some semblance to Hillside, my home in Ireland – long gone-even though it was not lakeside. My home here, though not at the water’s edge either, evokes the same quiet mystery.  I can go to that same tranquil place in my mind because of the trees and yardlings. OK, Patricia, time to snap out of the reverie and stop boring the peeps.

OK, I have to divulge some information I got last week at the rookery. Well, more flying-away from the island was going on there and all that in the midst of the huge furor of building NEW nests.  Those awesome Great Blue Herons just won’t stop!  That little speck of wool in the nest we saw a few weeks ago with Hattie is none other than the bold ol’ Baudelaire himself.  He caught a whiff of Kerouac fever, took off for other ponds before he was ready and the parents are forever calling out for him.

Another bit of news, Shinybeakgret divulged the names of her two baby darlings in the nest  – it took me weeks to get the names.  Here they are: Maud Gonne and John O’Leary.  ‘Course, now they’ve grown into huge wallops of things!! Wouldn’t you know,  Shinybeakgret had to complicate things but she told me in confidence that the momes were named after people that were very dear to her lover.  And HIS name is William Butler Yeats!!!!

Please indulge me as I offer you this:  Finally, I can recite my favorite poem to a rapt audience without getting the verses mixed up:

“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 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 the water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”

By W.B Yeats
That’s it for now. I’ll post more on the ‘grets and chicks in a day or two.  Stay posted!  Meanwhile:  Stop, listen to your heartbeat, dream about love and take a long, slow journey down the river of peace!