(12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden
, Stephen Spender
and Cecil Day-Lewis
; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell
, in his Talking Bronco (1946). His body of work was widely appreciated by the public during his lifetime, due in part to his relaxed, but socially and emotionally aware style.
It’s no go the Yogi-Man, it’s no go Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Blavatsky,All we want is a bank balance and a bit of skirt in a taxi.
It’s no go my honey love, it’s no go my poppet;Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.
Some on commission, some for the love of learning, Some because they have nothing better to do Or because they hope these walls of books will deaden The drumming of the demon in their ears.
I am not yet born; O hear me.Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the clubfooted ghoul come near me.
I am not yet born; forgive meFor the sins that in me the world shall commit, my wordsWhen they speak me, my thoughts when they think me,My treason engendered by traitors beyond me,My life when they murder by means of myHands, my death when they live me.
O early one morning I walked out like Agag|Agag,Early one morning to walk through the fireDodging the pythons that leaked on the pavementsWith tinkle of glasses and tangle of wire.
Then twangling their bibles with wrath in their nostrilsFrom Bonehill Fields came John Bunyan|Bunyan and William Blake|Blake:"Laredo the golden is fallen, is fallen;Your flame shall not quench nor your thirst shall not slake."