Andrew Scott has recorded a reading of a reassuring poem and it’s sexy priest 1, Connell 0

Step aside Connell, the sexy priest is back, and he’s even wearing a chain.

As the past few weeks have firmly established, we all fancy Paul Mescal. Women, men, Kardashians… everyone is a fan of Normal People‘s leading man. But long before lockdown there was another Irish actor making international pulses race: Andrew Scott.

Though he only object the stuff of global lust thank to his role as the ‘sexy priest’ in hit comedy series Fleabag, here in Ireland we’ve been swooning over the Dublin actor for years. And now there’s one more reason to get the smelling salts out – Andrew Scott has made a recording of reading of a beautiful poem to raise funds for Men Against Cancer Ireland. Weak fully doesn’t cover how it makes us feel.

Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke posted the video to her Instagram this week, where it has since been viewed over  three million times. It features Andrew Scott reading a piece called Everything is Going to be Alright, written by Belfast poet Derek Mahon.

 

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The beautiful, breathtaking talent that is Andrew Scott reads for us ‘Everything is Going to be All Right’ by Derek Mahon. Andrew has asked to dedicate this to Men Against Cancer Ireland @menagainstcancer Andrew we salute you! ? It comes under the prescription for need for reassurance. Here’s how it reads as written in the book @thepoetrypharmacy @thepoetryremedy There are moments in life when the banal suddenly, and quite without warning, becomes the transcendent. Perhaps a shaft of afternoon light paints a familiar view an unfamiliar gold; perhaps dust in a sunbeam or the dance of sparks above a fire transport you, for a long instant, to somewhere else altogether. The almost magical-seeming reflections of ripples on a ceiling are transfixing in just the same way. In moments like these- awe-struck moments when the ferocious beauty of the everyday catches us unawares- we are often moved to a reassessment. One flash of sunlight can be all it takes to give us the sense of possibility that can change everything. As a great sufferer from depression myself, I find a small moment like this, a sudden splash of serenity and beauty, can provide the impetus needed to run my mood around. Not completely, perhaps, and not permanently- but sometimes a small push is all any of us is waiting for. Derek Mahon’s poem ‘Everything is Going to be All Right’ describes wonderfully the feeling of that little push and reassessment. And there’s something hugely powerful, too, about its final line. When my children are suffering and I hold them in my arms, it seems to be the most natural mantra in the world: Everything will be all right. There’s a comfort to those words, whether or not they’ll prove to be true. OF course, some wounds don’t heal, and some wrongs go un-righted. But in the grander sense, in the everything sense, things to tend to be all right. Too often, our pain is either in our heads or magnified beyond all proportion. If we can learn to manage it, if we can find that oasis of calm in the reflection of the waves, then we might find that out problems are not as all-consuming as we imagined. Thank you thank you Andrew! ?

A post shared by @ emilia_clarke on May 18, 2020 at 9:10am PDT

The video shows Andrew sitting against a simple white wall in dappled sunlight as he recites the poem. Is that a chain visible beneath his linen shirt? Why yes it is.

Just 12 lines long, the poem itself is a wonderfully evocative piece of writing that captures the transformative power of even the most banal of moments, and has a simple, reassuring message: everything is going to be alright. As Emilia Clarke wrote in the caption accompany the post: “As a great sufferer from depression myself, I find a small moment like this, a suddenly splash of serenity and beauty, can provide the impetus needed turn my mood around.”

We cried, we swooned, we watched it about 100 times, and we did genuinely feel uplifted by the words – and the performance. The gauntlet has now been thrown down: show us your best sonnet Paul Mescal.

Men Against Cancer Ireland provides non-medical support, counselling and information to men affected by prostate cancer and their families. To find out more about their work and make a donation, click here.