Me name be Darby, 'n I be a wee Leprechaun here te spread some Luck o' the Irish oer this page!

WHAT IS IT TO BE IRISH?
Written by Hal Boyle

It is to have an angel in your mouth,
turning your prose to 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 to high song
if 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 Saint Patrick's Day, to be Irish
is to know more glory, adventure, magic,
victory, exultation, gratitude, and gladness
than 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.