| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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| 171. Ideal |
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| By Padraic Pearse (Translated by Thomas MacDonagh) |
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| NAKED I saw thee, | |
| O beauty of beauty! | |
| And I blinded my eyes | |
| For fear I should flinch. | |
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| I heard thy music, | 5 |
| O sweetness of sweetness! | |
| And I shut my ears | |
| For fear I should fail. | |
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| I kissed thy lips | |
| O sweetness of sweetness! | 10 |
| And I hardened my heart | |
| For fear of my ruin. | |
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| I blinded my eyes | |
| And my ears I shut, | |
| I hardened my heart | 15 |
| And my love I quenched. | |
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| I turned my back | |
| On the dream I had shaped, | |
| And to this road before me | |
| My face I turned. | 20 |
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| I set my face | |
| To the road here before me, | |
| To the work that I see, | |
| To the death that I shall meet. | |
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