Bono Vox gives Ukraine a poem – and the internet is full of malice

taketonews

Bono likes to cultivate his penchant for poetry in public. On YouTube you can see how the U2 singer pays homage to the young Elvis in artistic lines as “American David” or recites poems by Allen Ginsberg or Hermann Brood.

Now a current Bono epic has been presented in a prominent setting. The occasion: The annual commemoration of the Irish national saint St. Patrick (March 17), which is also celebrated in many ways on the US east coast.

At the traditional “Friends of Ireland” lunch in the capital Washington, Bono’s lines were read by the influential spokeswoman for the Democrats Nancy Pelosi. US President Biden was also a participant in this traditional event.

“This morning I got this message from Bono,” Pelosi announced the poem briefly. “For most of us, whether in Ireland, here or elsewhere, Bono is a very Irish voice in our lives.” Bono’s verses link the myth of St. Patrick fighting the snakes to the current wartime situation in Ukraine ( see below).

The reaction from traditional and social media was rather mixed. In addition to a certain benevolence, there was also harsh slating, such as from “New Yorker” author James Michael Surowiecki, who commented on Twitter: “It was worse than expected. And I had already imagined that it was going to be pretty bad.”

Another user on the channel tweeted: “What a genius. Now Putin will deal with U2. He hears ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ and will find that he is on the wrong track with his war. The Financial Times finally asked with sarcasm, “Hasn’t this poor country suffered enough already?”

Here’s the full poem for you to judge for yourself:

Oh, St 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 hath 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 struggled for us to be free
From the psycho in this human family
Ireland’s sorrow and pain
Is now the Ukraine
And St Patrick’s name now Zelenskiy



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