Pearse, the leader of the Dublin rebellion of 1916, wrote this extraordinarily prescient poem for his mother in early 1915. Pearse longed passionately to fight and, if necessary, die for his country. Along with his brother Willie Pearse, who had taken part in the rebellion but had not been one of the rebel leaders, he met his fate in front of a firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.

The Mother

by Patrick Pearse

I do not grudge them Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few
In bloody protest for a glorious thing
They shall be spoken of among their people
The generations shall remember them
And call them blessed
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights
The little names that were familiar once
‘Round my dead hearth
Lord, thou art hard on mothers
We suffer in their coming and their going
And tho’ I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow --- And yet, I have my joy
My sons were faithful, and they fought.