U2 front man Bono has linked Saint Patrick's legacy to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a poem read by Nancy Pelosi at the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
Speaker Pelosi reads #StPatricksDay poem by Bono, which reads in part:
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2022
"Ireland's sorrow and pain
Is now the Ukraine
And Saint Patrick's name now Zelenskyy."
She then introduces Riverdance. pic.twitter.com/NzPY1VP2bN
Speaking before she recited the poem, which Bono sent to her on Thursday morning, Speaker of the House Pelosi said, "Bono has been a very Irish part of our lives."
The poem reads:
Oh Saint Patrick he drove out the snakes
With his prayers but that’s not all it takes
For the snake symbolizes
An evil that rises
And hides in your heart
As it breaks
And the evil has risen my friends
From the darkness that lives in some men
But in sorrow and fear
That’s when saints can appear
To drive out those old snakes once again
And they struggle for us to be free
From the psycho in this human family
Ireland’s sorrow and pain
Is now the Ukraine
And Saint Patrick’s name now Zelenskyy.
US President Joe Biden attended the event, which also included a performance from Riverdance.
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin was forced to pull out of the luncheon after he tested positive for Covid-19.
