140. Terence MacSwiney

SEE, though the oil be low more purely still and higher

The flame burns in the body’s lamp! The watchers still

Gaze with unseeing eyes while the Promethean Will,

The Uncreated Light, the Everlasting Fire

Sustains itself against the torturer’s desire

Even as the fabled Titan chained upon the hill.

Burn on, shine on, thou immortality, until

We, too, have lit our lamps at the funeral pyre;

Till we, too, can be noble, unshakable, undismayed:

Till we, too, can burn with the holy flame, and know

There is that within us can triumph over pain,

And go to death, alone, slowly, and unafraid.

The candles of God are already burning row on row:

Farewell, lightbringer, fly to thy heaven again!