Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN IRISH FANTASY, by JOHN FRANKLIN BLUNT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN IRISH FANTASY, by                    
First Line: It so happens that I was born in cork'
Last Line: "it helps us think as we plant we shall reap."
Subject(s): Green (color); Holidays; Ireland; Patrick, Saint (5th Century); Trinity, The; Irish


"It so happens that I was born in Cork,"
Said a native son of Old Ireland,
"But me mither said, 'When the good auld stork
Flew around and dropped him there on the sand,
It was mighty fine, and really kind too,
The wise auld bird swung around to our door;
For surely Mike, if he'd had a mind to,
Would 'ave made 'im light on the English shore!
Now St. Patrick was born on Oirish soil --
So I must be like 'im in that wan way;
But me life has been spent in grinding toil --
Though I always halt on St. Patrick's Day.
And nobody knows when St. Pat was born --
But it must 'ave been airly in the morn.

"Now it all took place very long ago.
The Pope must 'a known 'twas no use to sarch;
For they had no parish books for to show,
And he set it down the Seventeenth of March.
So, in riv'rance to 'im, and for 'is sakes,
All we Oirish keep that day for 'is birth,
Remembering Pat drove away the snakes,
To trouble the people elsewhere on earth.
So, in wearin' that day the shamrock too,
Our belief in the trinity we show.
All its three-fold leaves, wherever it grew,
Suggested the symbol to Pat, you know.
Now, in 'Wearin' the Green,' our faith we keep:
It helps us think as we plant we shall reap."





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