Patrick Pearse Last Writtings

I fully understand now, as then,

That my own life is forfeit to British Law,

And I will die cheerfully if I can think

That the British government as it has already shown itself strong,

Will now show itself magnanimous enough

To accept my single life in forfeiture

And to give a general amnesty

To the brave men and boys who have fought at my bidding.

We do not expect that they will spare the lives of the leaders.

We are ready to die

And we shall die cheerfully and proudly.

Personally I do not hope or even desire to live,

But I do desire and believe

That the lives of all our followers will be saved.

You must not grieve for all this.

We have preserved Ireland’s honour and our own.

Our deeds of last week are the most splendid in Ireland’s history.

This is the death I should have asked God for

If God had given me the choice of all deaths,

To die a soldier’s death for Ireland and for freedom

We have done right.

People will say hard things of us now,

But later on they will praise us.

We shall be remembered by posterity

And blessed by unborn generations.

Do not grieve for all of this

But think of it as a sacrifice

Which God asked of me and of you.