All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

By Robert Scott

As of the deadline for The Edgefield Advertiser, the national politics had not settled out. Which political party will control the U.S. House of Representatives starting in 2023? How about the Senate? Will the newly elected S.C. House and Senate agree on new restrictions on abortion, or will they agree to disagree and let the court system decide for them – and, as a consequence, decide for the women of South Carolina? What decision will that be? It is likely that at least one of those questions will be unanswered for a few weeks yet. And it is likely that we will all continue to be bombarded with political advertisements for at least that long. It is time – passed time – to sit quietly, perhaps outdoors under a tree or in your own favorite spot, and just relax your mind and soul, thinking about your favorite poem. Here is one of my new favorites, one I just recently found, by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

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.