An Irishman's Diary

A word of advice to poster shops and other businesses specialising in inspirational wall-hangings. Stock up now on copies of Desiderata, while they're still cheap.

The once-famous prose poem may have fallen out of fashion in recent decades, but mark my words, the comeback has started. Don't say you weren't warned.

In the 1970s, no teenager's bedroom or young adult's flat was complete without a poster displaying the verse that begins: "Go placidly amid the noise and haste. . ." Since then a whole generation, if not two, has grown to maturity without the benefit of Desiderata's advice.

It seemed like a relic from a lost world when the poem turned up last week in the new Lifelines compilation (as the favourite of RTÉ's Eileen Dunne). Now I see that Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes also recited it before the party's annual dinner on Saturday night, telling those assembled: "With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world".

This is now what we in the media call "a trend". It's not hard to see why the main opposition party should be heading for the consoling harbour of philosophy after the latest polls. The interesting thing is that FG's troubles give us a chance to measure how well Desiderata's wisdom has stood up in the 30-odd years since its heyday. And the answer is: remarkably well.

There are a few lines that appear to speak directly to Enda Kenny at this difficult time. "Remember what peace there may be in silence" is an obvious one. But as his chances of becoming Taoiseach wax and wane violently, "do not distress yourself with imaginings" seems like good advice too. Most resounding of all is this: "Keep interested in your own career, however humble - it is a real possession in the changing fortune of time." Then again, the poem has words for Bertie Ahern too. "Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit" could persuade him to delegate Leader's Questions more often. "Speak your truth quietly and clearly" is advice that Dáil reporters have been urging on him for years.

And of course, the Taoiseach could heed this line: "Exercise caution in your business affairs, because the world is full of trickery." Although Lifelines attributes Desiderata to that most prolific of authors, Anonymous, it is now generally agreed to be to be the work of one Max Ehrmann, a US poet who died in 1945. It was written in 1927 (not in the 17th century, as once believed).And like many great poems, it had achieved widespread obscurity by the time of Ehrmann's death.

One hopes he was as philosophical as he was letting on to be. Because not only did the poem become famous after he died, but in an ironic illustration of the need for caution in business affairs, his estate struggled to establish copyright, so popular was the belief in the author's anonymity.

It was probably the concluding verse that caught the zeitgeist of the flower power generation. This also provided the chorus for the music version: "You are a child of the universe/ No less than the trees and the stars/ You have a right to be here/ And whether or not it is clear to you/ No doubt the universe is unfolding/ As it should.." The song was a top 10 hit in 1971. Leonard Nimoy also covered it (and paraphrased its advice about the universe in Star Trek). The verse became so popular that in 1972 the US magazine National Lampoon was moved to produce a satirical version for existentialists: "You are a fluke of the universe/ You have no right to be here/ Whether you can hear it or not/ The universe is laughing behind your back." Even the spoof version holds up reasonably well today, viz: "Go placidly amid the noise and waste. And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof".

It too has advice for the ages: "Rotate your tyres. Speak glowingly of those who are greater than yourself, and heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys". And especially in the wake of the e-voting debacle, we can only admire the satirist who wrote three decades ago: "Be comforted, that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment, and despite the changing fortunes of time, there is always a big future in computer maintenance." At any rate, poster shops might want to stock up on the satirical version too, to exploit the backlash that will surely follow Desiderata's renewed popularity.

Incidentally, there is some confusion about the poem's closing couplet, which in the absence of the original MS may never be cleared up. Many versions render it as: "Be cheerful. Strive to be happy." This seems like tautology. Then again, so does the alternative: "Be careful. Strive to be happy." The poet has already warned us to "exercise caution" in business, so in this version he is telling us to be careful twice. And although that is probably good advice for politicians, it rather spoils the poem.

Readers can choose whichever version they dislike less. But I think I prefer Tom Hayes's concluding message at the Fine Gael dinner, which caught the poem's spirit of serenity and acceptance as well as any couplet could. "Forget the polls," he told diners. "Enjoy your meal."