A Terrible Beauty Is Born

Too long a sacrifice can make
A stone of the heart
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven’s part, our part
To murmur name upon name
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild

What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said

We know their dream enough
To know they dreamed and are dead
And what of excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connoly and Pearse

Now and in time to be
Wherever green is worn
Are changed, changed utterly
A terrible beauty is born

Now and in time to be
Wherever green is worn
Are changed, changed utterly
A terrible beauty is born