HISTORICAL VALUE
Being neither nationalist nor republican,
I have little sympathy for either side
In the Irish Civil War; though I believe
That, under the prevailing circumstances,
The Free Staters were effectively right,
Since an Irish republic embracing
The whole of
Of a pipe dream now than it was then,
And, besides, the British were implacably opposed
To the 32-county Republican ideal.
To me, both republican Nationalism
And nationalist Republicanism
Are inadequate for solving the
Which demands not a democratic
But a radically theocratic approach,
Commensurate with Social Transcendentalism
And the establishment in Eire
Of an Irish Social Transcendental Centre,
The first of a number of such Centres
That would eventually form a world-wide federation
Of supra-national peoples.
Nationalism, like Republicanism, is limited
To a given span of evolutionary time, corresponding
To an atomic age, and it has to be
admitted that,
Due to historical circumstances, the Irish came late
To both Nationalism and Republicanism -
At the tail-end, so to speak, of the nationalist age.
Consequently, to regard either Nationalism
Or Republicanism as ideals worthy of eternal sanction
Is a serious mistake since, in effect,
They are distinctly temporal.
Better to regard them as means to a higher end -
Namely the attainment of
The most radically theocratic absolutism -
Than to treat them as ends in themselves.
Better not to unduly compromise
With democratic procedure and tradition -
More suited, in any case, to peoples
Like the British and the Americans - than
To take them to heart and/or
Seek to push democracy in a more radical direction.
Better the minimum compromise
That permits one the maximum theocratic freedom,
And thus facilitates progress towards
A truly Irish ideological integrity ...
Albeit one capable of wider global application.
The modicum of political freedom
In which to manoeuvre and subsequently engineer
The higher end - therein, it seems to me, lies
The historical value of the