Celebrating the work of W. B. Yeats and his Circle
In 1999 we commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the death of W. B. Yeats. To honour the poet and his work we held a competition for words to describe the immortal lines carved on his headstone at Drumcliffe in County Sligo.
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!
Jack Wesdrop of Ulster University submitted this:
Yeats' Epitaph
Draw rein!
Draw breath!
Draw rein: reins> chariot and horse; if chariot = body then horse = forces of life, thus reins channel soul into body (just as nerves channel will power); cut reins = dying.
Hence: You are a soul which occupies Eternity. To rein in eternity implies consciousness of time. Thus, stoop down into mortality.
Draw breath: to breathe> to assimilate spiritual power; rhythm; therefore a ritual reading (imitation) of the sacred text (Word=Universe=Existence) Thus: Be alive, take joy in your existence, gain experience.
Cast: as in a circle; ritualcold: solitude, exaltion - eye: seeing > spiritual act of understanding; light > intelligence and spirit; singular > extra-human capable of creation and destruction.
Thus: You are a singularity in time and space, unique and allpowerful, seeking to fathom all of Being.
on life: all things that flow and grow; fire > vital craving for nourishment; water > fertilizing power on death: the source of all life (spiritual and material); fire> destroyer; water > dissolution; one dies in a dark prison in order to find rebirth in light and clarity; only form is destroyed, never essence; all things are transformed, all things evolve in time
Thus: Life equates with death; they are faces of the same coin and one cannot be understood without the other.
Horseman: a knight > the master, the spiritual logos which prevails over matter; the coming or going of a thing; action in time; transcendence after a lenghty period of apprenticeship; development of soul and spirit (affections/morals, mind/reason); takes his proper place in the hierarchy of the universe; knight > king > saint; horse = bodily vegilce, rider = spirit > when rider dies he abandons his form; knighthood as a teaching system to help the natural man (steedless) transmute into spiritual man: avatars as knights, as guardians, and light-keepers, as wanderers on the material plane.
Thus: Seek thou back to the Divine: pass by!: Use what you've learned to your best advantage, go on get back home, (and leave my remains in peace). You are a soul which occupies Eternity. To rein in Eternity implies consciousness of time. Thus, you have chosen to stoop down into mortality. Therefore, be alive, take joy in your existence, gain experience therein. You are a singularity in time and space, unique and all-powerful, seeking to fathom all of Being.
Know you that life equates with death: they are faces of the same coin and one cannot be understood without the other. Seek thou back to the Divine.
Use what you've learned to your best advantage, go on and get back to your timeless place of origin, (and leave me to my own peace).
Copyright Jack Wesdrop 1998
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