Patrick Pearse was an Irish teacher, writer and poet. He was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, also known as the Easter Rebellion which occured 108 years ago this week. (April 24-29, 1916) Pearse and fourteen others who took part in the attempt to establish Ireland's independence were arrested, court-martialed and executed in the weeks following.
This is the poem Pearse wrote the night before his execution at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, May 3, 1916.
The Wayfarer By Patrick Pearse
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.
And this is the courtyard at Kilmainham where the executions took place. I took this photo when I went there during my trip to Ireland in 1994. It was one of my must see destinations. ❤
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