P is for Pádraic Pearse

Pádraic Pearse is one of my favorite Irish poets.  

He was involved in the Easter Rising of 1916 and was executed as a rebel.

Here is my favorite poem by Pádraic.  I used to have it memorized, many years ago.

"The Wayfarer"

The beauty of the world hath made me sad, 

This beauty that will pass; 

Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy 

To see a leaping squirrel in a tree 

Or a red lady-bird upon a stalk, 

Or little rabbits in a field at evening, 

Lit by a slanting sun, 

Or some green hill where shadows drifted by 

Some quiet hill where mountainy man hath sown 

And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven; 

Or children with bare feet upon the sands 

Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets 

Of little towns in Connacht, 

Things young and happy. 

And then my heart hath told me: 

These will pass, 

Will pass and change, will die and be no more, 

Things bright and green, things young and happy; 

And I have gone upon my way 

Sorrowful.

For more information about Pádraic Pearse, visit http://www.eirefirst.com/archive/pearse2.htm