There's a lot to celebrate this March: the Spring Equinox marks the official beginning of spring, the full moon is also the third supermoon of 2019, and, of course, there's St. Patrick's Day on Mar. 17. Whether you're Irish or not, you're probably looking forward to celebrating this very fun holiday. St. Patrick's Day is all about having a good time, and this year, it's on a weekend, which gives you plenty of extra hours to celebrate however you want, whether it's drinking with friends, heading to a bar crawl, checking out a parade, or just eating a whole lot of corned beef and cabbage.
While St. Patrick's Day has pretty much evolved into a really big drinking holiday (maybe one of the biggest!), it didn't start out that way, and you definitely don't have to celebrate it with a green beer in hand! If you want to take a more quiet approach to this day that is all about Irish heritage, you might want to try reading some St. Patrick's Day poems. They're interesting, beautiful, and really give you an idea of what this holiday was once all about.
After all, St. Patrick's Day started out as a feast day to honor the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. He was born in Roman Britain, kidnapped at 16-years-old and taken to Ireland as a slave, where he escaped and eventually tried converting the Irish to Christianity. St. Patrick established many monasteries, churches, and schools, and there were lots of legends about him. After his death, Ireland celebrated St. Patrick's Day with religious services and feasts. So, when you think about it, reading poems seems to make more sense on this holiday! Check out some of the best ones below:
1
"The Lost Land" by Eavan Boland
Where the hills
are the colours of a child's eyes,
where my children are distances, horizons:
2
"A Drinking Song" by William Butler Yeats
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
3
"Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey" by Hayden Carruth
Scrambled eggs and whiskey
in the false-dawn light. Chicago,
a sweet town, bleak, God knows,
but sweet. Sometimes. And
weren’t we fine tonight?
4
"Corned Beef and Cabbage" by George Bilgere
Everything was simmering
Just below the steel lid
Of her smile, as she boiled
The beef into submission,
Chopped her way
Through the vegetable kingdom
With the broken-handled knife
5
"Down By The Salley Gardens" by William Butler Yeats
Down by the salley gardens
my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens
with little snow-white feet.
6
"The Little Waves Of Breffny" by Eva Gore-Booth
The grand road from the mountain goes shining to the sea,
And there is traffic in it and many a horse and cart,
But the little roads of Cloonagh are dearer far to me,
And the little roads of Cloonagh go rambling through my heart.
7
"St. Patrick's Day: With An Irish Shamrock" by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna
From the region of zephyrs, the Emerald isle,
The land of thy birth,
in my freshness I come,
To waken this long-cherished morn with a smile,
And breathe o’er thy spirit the whispers of home.
