The Wayfarer by Pádraig Pearse: The Poem He Wrote the Night Before His Execution

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I was hoping to pick number 17 on the top 100 Irish poems list this week. It is mainly because it is St Patrick’s day, but I realised I had already published it in August 2021! So this week, I went with number 20 from the top 100 list—another appearance of the great Padraic Pearse. 

What is the “The Wayfarer” all about?

Pearse talks about the fleeting of life and how quickly it all goes by. It’s both a joyful and sorrowful poem, and I would also say very emotional. It also starts quite positive and speaks about the joy of life, only to do a complete flip at the end of the poem and end in sadness. 

But as they say, all good things have to come to an end. It was written on the eve of his execution at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin (May 2, 1916). To have such composure the day before his execution demonstrates Pearse’s brilliance. 

Enjoy this powerful and emotional Irish poem.

The Wayfarer

The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
This beauty that will pass;
Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy
To see a leaping squirrel in a tree,
Or a red lady-bird upon a stalk,
Or little rabbits in a field at evening,
Lit by a slanting sun,
Or some green hill where shadows drifted by
Some quiet hill where mountainy man hath sown
And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;
Or children with bare feet upon the sands
Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets
Of little towns in Connacht,
Things young and happy.
And then my heart hath told me:
These will pass,
Will pass and change, will die and be no more,
Things bright and green, things young and happy;
And I have gone upon my way
Sorrowful.

What did you think about this poem? 

Comment below. I found it a grim reminder about life and how we should appreciate the moments we can. 

The Wayfarer: meaning and analysis

What it means

The poem is a list of small, lovely things: a squirrel leaping in a tree, a red ladybird on a stalk, rabbits in a field at evening, a quiet hill a “mountainy man” has sown, barefoot children on the sand, and children playing in the streets of little Connacht towns. Each one has made his heart shake “with great joy”.

But his heart tells him they will all pass, change and die. So the wayfarer, the traveller, goes on his way “sorrowful”. Written by a man who knew he would be shot the next morning, it reads as a quiet farewell to the world.

Form

Free verse in a single stanza. The long, flowing list builds up the beauty, then the lines shorten and break, and the poem ends on one word standing alone: “Sorrowful.”

Key themes

• Beauty and loss: the beauty of the world is exactly what makes him sad.
• The west of Ireland: Pearse loved Connemara, where he had a cottage at Ros Muc.
• Facing death: calm, personal and not at all political.

More Irish poems

• The Mother by Pádraig Pearse
• The Fool by Pádraig Pearse
• Bean Sléibhe ag Caoineadh a Mhac by Pádraig Pearse
• Ireland’s top 100 Irish poems
• The Easter Rising: The 1916 Rebellion That Failed, Then Changed Ireland

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