Pelosi reads Bono limerick on Ukraine to help mark St. Patrick’s Day

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is sharing a limerick from Bono about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which the U2 frontman likens Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a saint.

“Most of us, whether we’re in Ireland or here, Bono has been a very Irish part of our lives,” Pelosi told a crowd of lawmakers at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon at the Capitol on Thursday to mark St. Patrick’s Day.

“I got this message this morning from Bono,” Pelosi said of the Irish-born “Sunday Bloody Sunday” singer and humanitarian, who was born Paul Hewson.

“Saint Patrick, he drove out the snakes, with his prayers, but that’s not all it takes,” Pelosi recited from Bono’s piece.

“When a snake symbolizes an evil that arises and hides in your heart as it breaks,” she continued.

“But in sorrow and fear, that’s when saints can appear, to drive out those old snakes once again.”

“And they struggle for us to be free, from the psycho in this human family. Ireland’s sorrow and pain, is now the Ukraine, and Saint Patrick’s name now Zelensky,” Pelosi concluded with a grin to applause.

Speaker Pelosi reads #StPatricksDay poem by Bono, which reads in part:

“Ireland’s sorrow and pain
Is now the Ukraine
And Saint Patrick’s name now Zelenskyy.”

She then introduces Riverdance. pic.twitter.com/NzPY1VP2bN

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2022

U2’s Instagram page praised Ukraine’s resilience amid Russia’s ongoing military offensive in a post last week, saying, “The Ukrainian people are teaching the rest of the world what freedom looks like, what freedom feels like, and most importantly what freedom acts like.”

“The bully in the neighborhood will not prevail,” the post said.

—Updated at 4:56 p.m.