Homesickness or nostalgia? W.B. Yeats’ most celebrated poem might well be The Lake Isle of Innisfree written in 1888. The real place of Innisfree is in Co. Sligo, Ireland. Yeats spent many summers there as a child, and the poem was a result of a sudden memory of his childhood while walking in London. Please join Yeats in his dream of going to where he can find peace and happiness, and where he can ponder the deep heart’s core. Where might you go, and what do you hope to find there? For you, what is at your deep heart’s core?
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.
Prayer:
Holy God
the story of the scriptures
is one of people hearing your call.
One by one, they arose and followed.
Help me I pray
to arise and go,
to go, where you lead.
To go, and to do so, believing.
To go, and to do so, hoping.
To go, and to do so, loving.
Be present O Lord
in my deep heart’s core.
Amen.
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 
I fully understand love of place and how it can penetrate one’s deep heart’s core.
It is as if the deep heart’s core has a small window through which things can slip out, never to return; a special tree now fallen, a friend no longer present, a brand new structure where a once humble cottage stood. These are pieces that create nostalgia, the things that are no more, the things we perceive as loss. But at my true deep heart’s core, nothing really changes; love of family, of books, of music, of laughter, of opportunity. And when the opportunity comes for family to gather at our oceanside retreat, my heart is overflowing and my peace is complete.
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