Two Poems for St. Patrick’s Day

Here are two poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant.

Slàinte!

Today we’ll lift the Lenten limitations
And don our Gaelic garb of kelly green.
Bonhomie and glee and lush libations
Will flow at dawn and dusk and in between.
We’ll pluck a harp and pick a lucky shamrock,
Kiss the Blarney Stone and spin a yarn,
Eat colcannon, steaming stew, and ham hock
As leprechauns make mischief in the barn.
Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
Will burst from balladeers down cobbled lanes.
We’ll waltz and watch the Galway twilight falling
While moonbeams dance on cottage windowpanes.

We’ll toast to Irish eyes that always smile,
St. Patrick and the snakeless Emerald Isle.

Slàinte: Irish for “Health!” or “Cheers!” 

St. Patrick’s Day

For an Ireland suffering terribly under
the weight of forced migration

Where is the one who rid the Emerald Isle
Of snakes? Nostalgia hears the hell-bent tread
Of gallant feet that trekked the extra mile
To free Éire‘s bogs and cobbled streets from dread.
As Irish eyes ignite and nectar flows
In ebon rivers topped with clouds of cream;
As memories jig to fiddles in the throes
Of merriment, the restless banshees scream
From shadows where the vipers hiss and spit.
The harp strings shiver in the shamrock hour
As pesky leprechauns of puckish wit
Revel in the marvel of past power.
Today the wistful nod and raise a toast
To Ireland’s patron saint … a fading ghost.

Éire: Irish for Ireland

Susan Jarvis Bryant is a poet originally from the UK, now living on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

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