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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned to songwriter Bono of the band U2 for a St. Patrick's Day poem that praises Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Bono's poem was his latest creation combining Irish imagery with an anti-war message. Pelosi recited the verse at the White House's annual "Friends of Ireland" luncheon on Thursday, and said the poem had been provided to her by the artist this morning.
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 Zelensky."
Bono's poem references that Saint Patrick, the British-Roman-born 5th century bishop, "drove out all the snakes" from Ireland. The oft-repeated claim is an allegory for the bishop's widespread conversion of Irish pagans and druids to Christianity through numerous baptisms, the removal of idols and ordinations of locals into the priesthood.
Saint Patrick was first venerated as a saint by Irish clergy in the 7th century, though his believed death date, March 17, wasn't recognized as an official Catholic holiday until the 1630s. He has since become a patriotic symbol among the largely Catholic country, often depicted in art wearing the color green and a shamrock, two symbols of Irish nationalism.
Bono's poem likely compared the saint to the Ukrainian president because Zelensky has emerged as a unifying presence rallying fellow Ukrainians and world citizens to oppose Russia's invasion, an invasion which the U.S. considers aggressive and unprovoked.
Democratic President Joe Biden has referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin's targeting of Ukrainian citizens as a war crime. While the U.S. has issued numerous sanctions against Russia, pledged $13.6 billion in military gear to Ukraine and stations U.S. troops elsewhere in Europe, Biden and Pelosi have both been reluctant to deploy U.S. forces in the country or to help enforce a no-fly zone over its skies, convinced it would escalate the conflict into World War III.
While only two members of U2 are Irish—its frontman Bono and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.—the group is known for performing political anti-war anthems, including "Sunday Bloody Sunday," the 1982 song that is among their most well-known.
The song refers to a January 1972 incident in which British soldiers shot 28 unarmed North Irish protesters and later beat and ran over others with army vehicles. The song features a militaristic drum beat and lyrics from the point of view of an observer who is horrified by the seemingly never-ending cycle of violence. In the song's refrain, the singer repeatedly asks, "How long, how long must we sing this song?"
Newsweek contacted the White House and Nancy Pelosi for comment.
