WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH ??
It is to have an angel in your mouth, turning your prose into poetry. It is
to have the gift of tongues, to know the language of all living things.
Does an Irishman pause and turn an ear to a tree? It is because on this
day he wants to hear what one sleepy bud says to another as it opens its
pale green hands to the warm sun of spring.
WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH ?
Oh, on this day it is music. Not just the cornet in the parading high
school band, but the deep, deep music of living, the low, sad rhythms of
eternity. The Irishman hears the high song of the turning spheres, the dim
lullaby of the worm in its cocoon. All the world is in tune, the tune that
only he can hear.
WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH?
It is to live the whole history of his race between a dawn and a dawn - the
long wrongs, the bird-swift joys, the endless hurt of his ancestors since
the morning of time in a forgotten forest, the knock at his heart that is
part of his religion.
WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH ?
It isn't only the realization that he is descended from kings. It is the
realization that he is a king himself, an empire on two feet striding in
power, a strolling continent of awe.
WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH ?
Why, on St. Patrick's Day, to be Irish is to know more glory, adventure,
magic, victory, exultation, gratitude, and gladness that any other man can
experience in a lifetime.
WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH ?
It is to walk in complete mystic understanding with God for twenty-four
wonderful hours.
By H. Boyle
(I'm not H. Boyle!) |
