TOM MOORE ON ST. PATRCK.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 895, 19 March 1878, Page 3

TOM MOORE ON ST. PATRCK.

The following ode to St. Patrick was written by the Irish poel on the 17th March, 1813, when he was half tipsy over a solitary dinner : — Though solus here I pick my bone, And drown my shamrock all alone, Yet ne'er the worse for that, I'U fill and drink (to make amends) to and for aU absent friends To honor thee St. Pat. And, faith, to thee I'd rather quaff Than any saint on Heaven's staff That ever Pope gazetted ; Because to thee we Irish sinners, Who love to sprinkle weR our dinners, Are very deep indebted. There's good St. Swithin— had he given (Instead of water) wine from heaven, For forty days together, Then truly for a moist " set m" Six weeks of wet would not have been Uncomfortable weather. But oh 1 the liquor gemmed with beads, That m my glass this moment reads The Riot Act, so frisky ! Sweet Pat, if e'er m humorous vein, Thou takest it m thy head to rain, I'or Heaven's sake rain whiskey ! I wonder what m cenrure's way The devil's lawyer had to say Against thee Pat — what had he? The worse that Eldon's self could prose, (The devil's lawyer he God knows ! ) Would be to call thee " Paddy.'' But let them call thee what they will, Through life I'll love thy worship still And when my race is over, Let shamrocks crown my bed of sleep. Let whiskey dew the shamrocks steep, And friends say round me while they weep, "Here lies a Pat m clover."