Poems I Journey With 2

Given the hundred year celebrations of that most significant of years in the history of our nationhood I shall  quote in full another favourite poem from that tragic period of bloodshed. I have always loved the writings - prose and poetry, whether in Gaelic or in English - of Patrick Pearse or Padraig Mac Piarais as he is better known in Irish Gaelic. One of my favourite poems of his in the Gaelic is the famous much anthologized one "Fornocht do chonac thú" which we learned by heart when we were at school. If the reader of these lines knows Gaelic at all s/he will appreciate the richness of the language, especially the apt and resounding use of assonance therein. To read it aloud in the Gaelic is to become enthralled and enchanted by the magic and the beauty of the language and also to be carried away with the depths of Pearse's vision of the Gaelic dream of freedom and the thoughts of his own imminent death. The translation that follows is my own:

Fornocht do chonac thú

Fornocht do chonac thú,

a áille na háille,
is do dhallas mo shúil
ar eagla go stánfainn.

Do chualas do cheol,
a bhinne na binne,
is do dhúnas mo chluas
ar eagla go gclisfinn.

Do bhlaiseas do bhéal
a mhilse na milse,
is do chruas mo chroí
ar eagla mo mhillte.

Do dhallas mo shúil,
is mo chluas do dhúnas;
do chruas mo chroí,
is mo mhian do mhúchas.

Do thugas mo chúl
ar an aisling do chumas,
‘s ar an ród so romham

m’aghaidh do thugas.

Do thugas mo ghnúis
ar an ród so romham,
ar an ngníomh do-chim,
‘s ar an mbás do gheobhad.

Some of my pupils who received the national flag for the school from the President

Translation:

Naked I saw you,
O beauty of beauties,
And I shielded my eyes
For fear I should stare.

I heard your music,
O harmony of harmonies,
And I closed my ears
For fear I should fail.

I tasted your mouth,
O sweetness of sweetnesses,
And I hardened my heart
For fear I should succumb.

I shielded my eyes,
And I closed my ears,
I hardened my heart
And I smothered my desire.

I turned my back
On the vision I had created,
And to this road before me
I turned my attention.

I have turned my attention
To this road before me,

To the deed that I see
And the death I shall die.

Patrick Pearse was at once a visionary and a mystic as well as being a teacher and revolutionary. Mystics and visionaries are too often misunderstood and in that misunderstanding of their motives, many can accuse them of being extremists. Unfortunately, many commentators have well and truly made that mistake.  Pearse was enchanted by the vision of a Gaelic and free Ireland, very Romantic and almost Utopian in its vision. And so the apparition of that Ireland, that alluring Ireland, which in the poetic tradition of the Gaelic language would always have been visualized as a young woman who is oppressed and enslaved by the British. (In the tradition of the "Aisling" or "Dream of Freedom" poem, the poet always encountered a "spéirbhean" or "lovely lady of the sky" who is in fact Ireland herself). With this in mind, we can now see the vision that he had to shield himself from, that literary vision of Gaelic enchantment, the lure its literature, the sweetness of its music, the satisfaction of the emotions and the love for its women folk.  However, another more bloody vision of the sacrifice of his life in revolutionary action for the freedom of Ireland beckoned to him - this was the highway to the Uprising, "this road" before him that led to the 1916 Easter Rising and the death of many. 

Like the previous poem, "The Wayfarer," "Fornocht do chonac thú" is suffused with the notion of the transience of life and the reality of human mortality.  However, it contrasts two clashing visions, one of the sacrifice of death for the victory of freedom and the other, the enchanted world of Celtic or Gaelic mysticism.  Pearse knew he had to sacrifice his life so that his Gaelic vision might be realized.

Thoughts on the Tao Te Ching 29

Poem 29

Do you want to improve the world?

I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.

It can't be improved.

If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.

If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,

a time for being behind;

a time for being in motion,

a time for being at rest;

a time for being vigorous,

a time for being exhausted;

a time for being safe,

a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,

without trying to control them.

She lets them go their own way,

and resides at the center of the circle.

Commentary

Yellow Poppy

Having lived in this world for almost 58 years now, I have in the past been mostly annoyed and angry at people who cannot resist the urge to take control of others, though mostly I am more amused at their antics in the last number of years.  Life has taught me that I simply cannot control any other human being, much less the world.  We are such insignificant ants on the anthill called the Earth, a mere individual among about 7.3 billion human beings. And yet some of us think we are so important that we actually dare to attempt to control others.  I remember reading in one of Dr Tony Humphrey's books the succinct and wise statement: "All control is self-control!" There is much wisdom in that - indeed, there is much Zen in it, or even, dare I say it, much Tao!  As a young teacher I often went astray by trying to control what I simply could not control.  We can only exert influence over whatever little patch of ground that we alone are in charge of.  I learnt from other more experienced teachers how to exercise control within my own classroom and how to give instructions to adolescents without their sounding like being commands inviting opposition.  

It is indeed a truism to say that none of us can change the world, and we know that working together, yet again like ants on an anthill, but with all our wonderful brain power, we can achieve much material change for the good of humankind.  I think the above poem is somewhat pessimistic about life in a way, though one can understand such an attitude given that the poem was written over 2,000 years ago when no one could change much about an inevitably hostile world and where human lifespan was very short indeed.

Much spirituality essentially boils down to working on our egotism.  Just as the sun certainly does not revolve around the Earth, the world certainly does not revolve around any one individual.  There is nothing as bad as encountering people who are egotistical and self-centered.  St John the Evangelist put this in a very Christian way - as he, needless to say, saw our relationship with Jesus Christ as being of paramount importance - "He must increase and I must decrease" or as it is also translated, "He must become greater, I must become less." (John 3:30)  In other words we can translate this overtly Christian exhortation as a recommendation to bring our egos under control.

Malahide at sunset

Christmas Day is a special one for all Christians.  Even if you are of another faith or even none, you can still rejoice in the power of the simple yet wonderful myth or story, that whatever power is behind the universe (some dare call this power God) deigned take human form in the shape of a simple little infant.  This doctrine is known as that of the Incarnation, literally the en-fleshing of the Godhead in human form.  If anything, the heart of the meaning of this myth is that all of creation and especially humankind are shot through with a value that is beyond human reckoning.  This, then, I believe, is what it means to say that something is sacred.  The Earth and all it contains is sacred, that is, of priceless value. Christians believe, then, that everything in creation, especially humanity as the guardians of the goods of the Earth, is sacred.

The above poem shares some of this Christian insight into the sacredness of the world.  I admit it sounds somewhat negative to our modern ears, but I remind the reader again that this verse was written over 2000 years ago when people were simpler and fatalism loomed large in all cultures.

I need hardly remind the readers of this blog that the third stanza above is remarkably like the more famous stanzas from Ecclesiastes 3 from the Old Testament: "There is a time for everything, // And a season for every activity under the heavens" etc.  Once again the Taoist and Biblical writers are ad idem  with their enthusiasm to pile polar opposites one on top of another.  I have mentioned over and over again in these posts that spiritual writers of every hue have a predilection for the balancing of polar opposites and for keeping the healthy tension between both poles.  One could do worse than read Taoist Poem 29 in conjunction with Ecclesiastes 3.

My prayer for anyone reading these rather short and hurried reflections is that we may learn to let go of the restrictions of the ego, to let go of the urge to control others, to learn to accept what we cannot change and at the end of the day to learn to live peacefully with ourselves and others.  After all, we are what we are and we must learn to love ourselves, forgive ourselves and be compassionate to ourselves as well as to others.  That is no easy task, but it sure is one essential one if we are to steer the bark of self through the choppy waters of life.

Namaste, friends and a very Happy Christmas.