THE ORATOR "Remember Pearse," he said; "if we Lose Irish we lose Ireland," They looked and listened stupidly Like country folk on holiday. If Yeats were still alive maybe He could breathe vigour into clay, Conjure an aristocracy, And add grandeur to decay. But he too was responsible For this dull ash of men, for he Was often as contemptible In bartering all for poetry. Yes, I have heard some people tell Of petty spite and tyranny, For psychic sight and psychic smell Both failed to teach him charity. If Yeats were still alive maybe Ireland would cut a dash again, But men can starve on poetry And bullets break the poet's pen. We need another death. Who knows -- Before the resurrection -- Instead of arrogance and pose We'll need a Sheehy Skeffington. -- Roy McFADDEN(born 1921) The last line apparently is a reference to Francis Skeffington (1878-1916) from Bailieborough, Co. Cavan, an Irish suffragist and pacifist and writer. He was married to one of Conor Cruise O'Brien's aunts, the former Hanna Sheehy in 1903, whose own surname he adopted as part of his name, resulting in his being known as Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and sometimes referred to as "Skeffy". He was educated initially at home by his father, Dr Joseph Skeffington, a school inspector, and later by the Jesuits before enrolling in University College Dublin. He was individualistic in disposition and unconventional in temperament, refusing to shave and wore knickerbockers, long socks and, as an ardent proponent of rights for women, he wore a badge that read Votes for Women. He organised a petition to lobby for women to be admitted to UCD on the same basis as men shortly after he married. He was a well known figure at UCD and active in student politics and debating societies including the Literary and Historical Society. Hanna (1877-1946), was born in Milhouse Kanturk, Co. Cork and was very accomplished in her own right. (Please read more about this interesting couple's activism, many accomplishments, but Hanna ultimately lost her teaching job in 1913 when she was arrested and put in prison for three months after throwing stones at Dublin Castle. While in jail she started a hunger strike but was released under the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act and was soon rearrested Francis supported Home Rule but was not a supporter of the Irish Volunteers, preferring civil disobedience. Skeffy and Hanna took opposing positions towards the 1916 Easter Rising - he sticking to his pacifist principles. Hanna brought food to the rebels located at the General Post Office and the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1916, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, was shot dead during the Easter Rising on the orders of a British army officer, Captain J C Bowen-Colthurst. He was survived by his wife, who had became increasingly nationalist-minded, and his son then age 7. The now-deceased Owen Sheehy-Skeffington, who eventually played a moderate role in Irish politics and attended the secular Sandford Park School with his cousin, Conor Cruise O'Brien, because Hanna refused to send her son to any school with a pro-Treaty ethos