Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
IV. Inland Waters: HighlandsThe Lake Isle of Innisfree
William Butler Yeats (18651939)I
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.
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There ’s midnight all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I hear lake 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.