St Patrick's Day

"Mate, you can't tell everyone to fuck off and then get angry when they all fuck off."
- The Antipodean end of the internet.

Apparently Truth Social is a scream right now.

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Meanwhile came St Paddy's Day,

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity,
Come dance with me in Ireland.'

One man, one man alone
In that outlandish gear,
One solitary man
Of all that rambled there
Had turned his stately head.
That is a long way off,
And time runs on,' he said,
'And the night grows rough.'

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'

'The fiddlers are all thumbs,
Or the fiddle-string accursed,
The drums and the kettledrums
And the trumpets all are burst,
And the trombone,' cried he,
'The trumpet and trombone,'
And cocked a malicious eye,
'But time runs on, runs on.'

I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
"Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'
- Yeats of course


March 17th and the wind blew, tree tips pushing out and upwards into all that Spring: I would have danced too, were I alone and not struggling hard to walk against the headwinds! Afterwards my hair was so totally tangled I thought I would have to cut some out. But tussle-head's a small price to pay for feeling this alive.

'And time runs on,' he said,
'And the night grows rough.'

I thought of my ancestors of Ireland. The best documented line of them got through An Gorta Mor probably because they were not agricultural workers but linen dyers and bleachers, but many unrecorded and unremembered died excruciating deaths. So to St Patrick's Day, and leprechauns and shamrocks and guinness, I don't think these things should be derided for being trivial. They're a sign of having got this far out of hell, celebrating survival and more than survival; merriment, food and friendship, music, things that make life worth living.

I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
"Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'