People of the Wild Atlantic Way – 

Neill Clarke – Bantry, West Cork.

‘I’m inspired by nature, I’m overtaken by the beauty and majesty of everything I see around me in the natural world. Nature is a part of the very essence of our lives. I can remember many Summers messing about in boats in Bantry Bay, and this love for the outdoors has stayed with me all my life. This passion for nature is expressed perfectly in the poem – ‘The lake Isle of Inishfree’ by W.B Yeats.’

I will arise and go now, and go to Inishfree,
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 crickets sings,
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of 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.