Note: Terence McSwiney was a poet and playwright who became Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920 during the Irish War of Independence. He was arrested by the British authorities on charges of 'sedition' and died on hunger strike in Brixton prison.
TERENCE McSWINEY'S GHOST SPEAKS TO THE PROVOS
A people of split mind should not make war
On a people of whole mind.
What is your independent principle?
The wings of spirit have melted on the Irish;
They gravitate back to the British earth.Mazzini knew, though I believed him wrong
And died to prove it: not for many days
Did Ireland have a mission on the earth.
Look to the South, where the depending spirit
Turns hypocrite rather than know its change;
Be reconciled and out away your guns.
War of West Britain against North-West Britain
Can come to nothing.