(Arruebarrena) For I go to Sligo

What is it about Sligo that makes it so captivating?  Is it how the fog clouds always hover gently over Ben Bulben, is it how Captain Robert Parke's manner is situated by one of the most beautiful bodies of water, Lough Gill, or is it how the wind on top of Knocknarea Mountain is the freshest breath of life one could ever take?

Maybe it is the city life after the sun sets, the party begins and a local kindly comes up to you and says, "How's the crack?"  This is not a crude question, but rather an expression that translates poorly to any American head.  And of course, the crack is very good, and I am already wanting more.

I grabbed a little pamphlet at the Drumcliffe Church called The Eye of the Heart: Beyond the epitaph of W.B. Yeats.  It proudly states, 'Even though the poet only visited Sligo on occasional long holidays as a child and occasionally as an adult, it was Sligo that left in his mind the most enduring images of his life.'  Almost immediately upon arriving to Sligo, I can understand why any man or woman would want to pass onto another life in this town. 

In Sligo I found myself wondering about life and death.  When I see the the rushing water of the Glencar waterfall, I see no beginning and no end.  How could I not think of a crafty hand shaping the plateau-esque mountain of Ben Bulben and leaving His signature of the misty fog on top, like the cowlick hair on top of the leisured cows.  These thoughts seem to be automatically conjured into consciousnesses as evident by Yeats's tombstone states:

Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death
Horesman, pass by!

This horseman has wondered for too long about the eternity and mortality of things, and merely goes on his way.  Yeats is not trying to offer an answer to life's questions, but just wants to pass beyond them.  My eye may not be cold towards the revolving eternity of the universe, but I do not think Yeats's eyes were either.  I think he often listened for the hum of the world, and brought about his life through poetry.

Our visit has brought us to the most ancient artifacts of the ancient artifacts, and our group has all learned a little bit about themselves, whether that be that they need to get more in shape or why they live and experience the way they do.  The change of the overall way of life from Dublin to Sligo is profound, and so I can not help but speak of life's profound.