Passages: "Dance Like A Wave Of The Sea"

William Butler Yeats has penned so many poems, but this isn't one of the famous ones. "The Fiddler of Dooney" is an early work, artfully simple, and easily overlooked.

THE FIDDLER OF DOONEY

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,

Folk dance like a wave of the sea,

My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,

My brother in Moharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:

They read in their books of prayers;

I read in my book of songs

I bought at the Sligo Fair.

When we come at the end of time,

To Peter sitting in state,

He will smile on the three old spirits,

But call me first through the gate:

For the good are always the merry,

Save by an evil chance,

And the merry love the fiddle

And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,

The will all come up to me,

With "Here is the fiddler of Dooney!"

And dance like a wave of the sea.

--W.B. Yeats

"And dance like a wave of the sea": On my best days teaching, I feel a bit like the fiddler. That's heady inspiration for working harder, for doing better. I typed up this simple poem to share, yes, but mostly to remind myself today, this hour. And so.