Bono has likened the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to Saint Patrick in a special poem.
The limerick was read out by Nancy Pelosi at the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on Thursday, amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Sharing the poem on Twitter, the U2 frontman wrote: “I’ve a tradition of sending a limerick to @SpeakerPelosi’s St. Patrick’s Day lunch over the years. This year the limerick is irregular & not funny at all.”
‘I’ve a tradition of sending a limerick to @SpeakerPelosi’s St. Patrick’s Day lunch over the years. This year the limerick is irregular & not funny at all. We stand with the people of Ukraine & their leader. It wasn’t written to be published, but since it’s out, here it is.’-Bono pic.twitter.com/pLkE59DSxU
— U2 (@U2) March 17, 2022
“We stand with the people of Ukraine & their leader. It wasn’t written to be published, but since it’s out, here it is,” he added.
The annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon was attended by US President Joe Biden on St. Patrick’s Day.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was also supposed to attend the event, but had to pull out after testing positive for Covid-19.
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