Clergyman's

The duty of a lyrical poet is not to express or explain, it is to intensify life.
- James Stephens (author)

The duty of a lyrical poet is not to express or explain, it is to intensify life.
- James Stephens (author)

Because our lives are cowardly and sly,
Because we do not dare to take or give,
Because we scowl and pass each other by,
We do not live; we do not dare to live.
- James Stephens (author)

Because our lives are cowardly and sly,
Because we do not dare to take or give,
Because we scowl and pass each other by,
We do not live; we do not dare to live.
- James Stephens (author)

Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.
- James Stephens (author)

Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.
- James Stephens (author)

Speech and prose are not the same thing. They have different wave-lengths, for speech moves at the speed of light, where prose moves at the speed of the alphabet, and must be consecutive and grammatical and word-perfect. Prose cannot gesticulate. Speech can sometimes do nothing else.
- James Stephens (author)

If I asked her master he'd give me a cask a day;
But she, with the beer at hand, not a gill would arrange!
May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten, and may
The High King of Glory permit her to get the mange.
- James Stephens (author)

I would think
Until I found
Something
I can never find;
– Something
Lying
On the ground,
In the bottom
Of my mind.
- James Stephens (author)