Saint Patrick
by George Albert Leddy
(1948)
SAINT PATRICK HAD HIS WEAKNESS TOO
AS ALL THE OTHER IRISH DO
Saint Patrick was a gentleman; he came to Erin’s Isle,
And when he’d meet a Colleen sweet,
he’d greet her with a smile.
He seemed to feel he had appeal,
that no maid could resist.
He’d find those little Irish maids, that wanted to be kissed.
And when the maidens saw, by chance, that fine young man just in from France;
They did not know what he was doing,
until he started in a-wooing.
He caught one maid and started kissing,
and then he heard a funny hissing.
He didn’t get an even-break,
for at his feet he saw a snake.
That snake was looking up at him,
and on its face there was a grin.
“Oh,” said the snake, “I beg your pardon.
I am the snake from Adam’s garden.”
Well, Paddy boy was very frightened,
and on his staff his fingers tightened.
And that is why, I understand,
he drove the snakes from Ireland.
***