Francis Sheehy-Skeffington

by Eva Gore Booth

Dublin, April 26, 1916

No green and poisonous laurel wreath shall shade
His brow, who dealt no death in any strife,
Crown him with olive who was not afraid
To join the desolate unarmed ranks of life.

Who did not fear to die, yet feared to slay,
A leader in the war that shall end war,
Unarmed he stood in ruthless Empire’s way,
Unarmed he stands on Acheron’s lost shore.

Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926)

Collins, Lucy. Poetry by Women in Ireland : A Critical Anthology 1870-1970. Liverpool:  Liverpool University Press, 2014. p.128.