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“Ethical” by Patrick Kavanagh 🇮🇪 (21 Oct 1904 – 30 Nov 1967)
You who have not sown
Will eat the bitter bread
And beg the sweetness of a stone
Flung at Saint Stephen’s head.
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You who have not sung
Will hear the clang of brass
When fairies beat on April’s gong
With stems of greening grass.
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And you who have not prayed
The blackbird’s evening prayer
Will kneel all night dismayed
Upon a frozen stair.