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The Life of 'AE'
On a mild Spring’s night
In the heartlands of Ulster
A prodigious child was born
For Ireland, to save her
A man of modest means
Yet formidable wit
The mystics he joined
A cause to commit
In poems and paintings
He found self expression
Yet through a noble pursuit
Would leave his impression
He traversed the country
On a campaign of recruitment
To free the impoverished through Unions
And the Co-operative movement
With Horace Plunkett and Connolly
He struggled for justice
Yet the Gombeens and the bosses
Outweighed Caesar Augustus
Though Russell did not stop
In this quest for social reform
From misery to prosperity
One sought to transform
But the inconsiderate dogma
Of the Irish Free State
Meant to delay his mission
As “Labour, must wait”
George William Russell grew older
Crippled by usury
To wretched cancer, succumbed
Rest in peace, ‘AE’
Copyright ©
Tadgh Quill-Manley
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