Too bad we don’t get the day off in the United States for Saint Patrick’s day. We’re all such workaholics in this country! But that’s why I posted a poem yesterday by James Clarence Mangan, Irish poet and will probably do another one of his tomorrow. He’s not well-known enough considering his genius.
You know at Saint Patrick’s day parties there might be some singing, and some of that unique Irish folk music and there are plenty of Irish songs, from almost all ages. We have a bunch of them that were probably written here in the US for the Irish diaspora that are a bit sentimental, but great songs anyhow. Kind of like Christmas music, you only hear them once a year, and they set the tone. Here’s the words to one verse and the chorus of “Where the River Shannon Flows“, one of my favorites:
There’s a pretty spot in Ireland
I always claim for my land
Where the fairies and the blarney
Will never never die.
It’s the land of the shillalah
My heart goes back there daily
To the girl I left behind me
When we kissed and said goodbye
Where dear old Shannon’s flowin’
Where the three-leaved shamrock grows
Where my heart is where I’m goin’
To my little Irish rose
And the moment that I meet her
With a hug and kiss I’ll greet her
For there’s not a colleen sweeter
Where the river Shannon flows
And here’s a reasonably genuine version of it:
Alan Olee Book Report 