St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day

By Jean Blewett

 

There’s an Isle, a green Isle, set in the sea,

     Here’s to the Saint that blessed it!

And here’s to the billows wild and free

     That for centuries have caressed it!

 

Here’s to the day when the men that roam

     Send longing eyes o’er the water!

Here’s to the land that still spells home

     To each loyal son and daughter!

 

Here’s to old Ireland—fair, I ween,

     With the blue skies stretched above her!

Here’s to her shamrock warm and green,

     And here’s to the hearts that love her!

 

 

With St. Patrick’s Day Friday, I thought I’d post a poem about Ireland.

 

About the Poet

 

Canadian poet and writer Jean Blewett was born in Scotia, Lake Erie, Ontario, in 1872. She began writing at a young age and gained recognition for her poems, short stories, and articles while still a teenager. The author of two popular collections of poetry, Heart Songs (1897) and The Cornflower and Other Poems (1906), she also wrote a novel, Out of the Depths (1890). 

Globe Magazine described Blewett as a “woman’s poet” while calling her the “most conspicuous example in Canada of the class of writers who try to bring the plain people into touch with the highest ideals that are frequently most effectively taught in verse. Her lessons are of self-denial, and of the power of love to mold men and women.” She was popular in the United States and Canada, and the Chicago Times-Herald awarded her a $600 prize for her poem “Spring.”

Blewett died in 1934.