What It Means To Be Irish
WHAT IT MEANS To BE IRISH
You won’t play professional basketball
Your cousin is a cop
Or maybe just a fireman
Your swearing just won’t stop
You think that you can sing well
You can’t make a long story short
There’s a difference between losing your temper
And killing someone they report
At least one of your aunt’s a Sister
And one of your uncle’s a priest
You’re strangely poetic when drinking
And you’re drinking too much at least
You’ll get punched for something your parents
Or maybe their parents had done
Your childhood meals were boiled
Instant potatoes you shun
Your sisters or cousins are Mary
Or Catherine or even Eileen
You know someone named Murphy, Mic, Sully
If not then it’s your name I mean
Someone in your family is generous
Generous almost to fault
You can’t wait until you can start talking
You start before they even halt
You may not know the words to that old song
But that doesn’t stop you for long
You sing out your own variation
Of any old Irishman’s song
No secret is safe in your keeping
Genetically you have to share
You’re not nearly as funny as you think
But the Irish in you doesn’t care
You have the Irish Alzheimer
You forget everything but the grudge
You have relatives that simply aren’t speaking
Not fighting – they simply won’t budge
To tan or not tan takes no thinking
You might tan but only in spots
Your remedy for common colds is
Whiskey and sometimes it’s lots
There’s no leaving a big family party
Without hugging and saying goodbyes
That takes at least 45 minutes
And no one can leave with dry eyes
But that also means that you are lucky
The luckiest people alive
For you have that Irish blood in you
And the Irish will always survive
Happy Saint Patrick's Day from your Uncle Mike
Copyright © Mike Dailey | Year Posted 2014
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