When you walk here, walk carefully
Walk without show of pride or class
The eyes are watching you hawkfully
Crouched in invisible guinea grass
Smile as you go, this is friendly country
"No problem" is the other motto here
Where thick wool covers the hungry
Like pale soldiers pride cover up dispear
Watch where you put your feet, please
Keep on your shoes, it is not holy ground
The red lake is blood, we have no red seas
It may be thunder or a bullet's sound
Guns from armies dead in Iraq and Gaza
Our factories can only make ice cold beers
It is alright to dance, the love at the plaza
Is strange and real, there are other fears
Not grown here like banana or breadfruit
Imported from the continent knowingly
Keeping things in instability, a piper's flute
Edging the deep margins and cunningly
This is Jamaica, my island in the sun
Where deep colonial antiquities loll abroad
And sweet on beaches innocents run
Little children who call this place "yard."
No other man could say with pride
How honored t’was to be
That though they suffered hunger
And through their poverty
They still stood tall, to fight them all
The rest… is history
Now, turn the pages back some time
On an island far from here
Where English Lords forced a nation
To sea or to live with fear
They pushed away, even still today
But, the Irish pride is clear
Through all the outward signs of hate
Too, in Boston, where they fled
All of the Beacon Hill residents
Just wished the Irish dead
But, they prevailed, as soon they hailed
The pride of Irish bred
Despite their constant struggles
They never chose to hide
For they knew just who they were
And wore it then with pride
As years went on, the Irish son
In America did reside
They were soon to hold their office
Also Police in New York blue
For they were of the people, proud
That held the laws then true
Enforcing rules and teachers at schools
As the Irish got their due
Yet, still they’re given just one day
While a month unto another
But, yet the Irish smile with pride
Not standing under cover
They’d never duck, with their Irish luck
To share with non-Irish brothers