Yeats

Have I mentioned how much I love W.B. Yeats? My love affair with him and his writing all began in the mid-90s when I first visited Thoor Ballylee, Yeats' home where he lived and wrote from 1919 to 1929. It wasn't until my second visit to the home in 2000 that I realized that the home was actually built in the 16th century by the de Burgo (later Burke) family, which are my maternal ancestors. Standing on top of that Norman tower and taking in all 360 degrees of the view, I felt so connected to the land, to the home, to the writer. "This", (she says with a grand sweeping gesture), "is what inspired a lot of his work." Ah, sweet William. Sweet Ireland. I miss you so.