Drumcliffe Church and Yeats’ Grave

Standing against the backdrop of the lovely Ben Bulben, Drumcliffe Church is a stone edifice with its tower rising into the sky and adorned with Celtic crosses, dominating the surrounding countryside. It is striking at any time of the day, but is hauntingly beautiful in the gentle evening light, with Ben Bulben silhouetted against a bluish-grey sky. It is usually serene and the silence is full of poetry. Yeats’ is supposed to have visited the place but more importantly, it is here that he was buried. Poetically and aptly enough, the last lines of his last poem Under Ben Bulben “Cast a cold eye/on life, on death/Horseman, pass by!” are inscribed on the tombstone.