Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand

Hear now the fiery words of Brendan Behan, the Irish writer who lived by wit and passion, and who declared: “Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.” This utterance burns with urgency, for it reveals the fleeting nature of inspiration. It comes not as a gentle guest who lingers by the fire, but as a sudden storm, demanding response, demanding labor, demanding that thought be wed at once to deed.

To delay is to lose it. For inspiration is like a spark cast upon dry wood; if you seize it, it becomes a flame; if you neglect it, it fades into ash. Behan reminds us that ideas are not meant to be locked away in journals or forgotten in the corridors of the mind. They are born to be incarnated in the world through speech, through art, through action. A delayed inspiration is no inspiration at all, but a ghost of what might have been.

Consider the tale of Mozart, who, when seized by a melody, would rush to his desk to write, lest it vanish from memory. He did not wait for the perfect hour or the ideal conditions—he grasped his inspiration and married it at once to his craft. In doing so, he left the world a treasure of symphonies that might otherwise have dissolved into silence. Here we see Behan’s truth: greatness arises not from inspiration alone, but from inspiration joined immediately to action.

In contrast, how many inventions, discoveries, and works of art have been lost because their bearers hesitated? The dreamer who delays, saying, “I will begin tomorrow,” finds that tomorrow comes empty, for the vision that once burned bright has grown dim. History is littered with ideas unfulfilled, seeds never planted because their sower waited too long. Thus, Behan’s words are both a call and a warning: seize the hour, for it will not wait for you.

And yet, his message is not only for artists and poets, but for every soul. When you feel the stirrings of kindness, do not delay, for the moment to help may pass. When you see injustice, do not wait for a more convenient time to speak, for silence may calcify into complicity. When your heart tells you to begin a noble work, begin at once, for every delay is a theft from destiny. Inspiration is not only the seed of art but the summons to all righteous action.

O children of tomorrow, let this be your wisdom: when inspiration strikes, bind it swiftly in the covenant of action. Do not court it endlessly, dreaming of what might be; act, and in acting, give it life. A poem half-written, a vision untried, a kindness postponed—these are the graves of lost inspirations. Better to stumble in action than to waste away in endless contemplation.

What, then, must you do? Carry always the tools of your craft, the readiness of your will. When the spark comes, write it, build it, speak it, live it. Do not despise small beginnings, for even the mightiest river begins as a trickle. And trust that in marrying inspiration to action, you become not merely a dreamer but a maker, a doer, one who shapes the world rather than only imagining it.

Thus, Behan’s words thunder across time: inspirations are fleeting lovers; they will not wait for long engagements. They demand swiftness, courage, and resolve. So let your heart be quick to labor when the muse appears. In this way, your life shall not be a graveyard of forgotten dreams, but a harvest field where inspirations are sown, nurtured, and reaped in the form of deeds that endure.