Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.

By Padraic Pearse

171. Ideal

NAKED I saw thee,

O beauty of beauty!

And I blinded my eyes

For fear I should flinch.

I heard thy music,

O sweetness of sweetness!

And I shut my ears

For fear I should fail.

I kissed thy lips

O sweetness of sweetness!

And I hardened my heart

For fear of my ruin.

I blinded my eyes

And my ears I shut,

I hardened my heart

And my love I quenched.

I turned my back

On the dream I had shaped,

And to this road before me

My face I turned.

I set my face

To the road here before me,

To the work that I see,

To the death that I shall meet.