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Montpellier, France
Writer, actor, artist, teacher, exploring the world and its levels in fiction, poetry, memoir, photography, fine arts.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Hurray for Ireland! (opinion, song)


Hurray for Ireland! Green is the New Rainbow! 


Celebrate Ireland's being at the forefront of a progressive and tolerant spirit gaining ground despite global machinations of power, wealth, and extremism. The gay movement of the past fifty years finds itself in the unlikely vanguard of that rising spirit. GLBTQ, and the Irish, know how to push back at oppression. The pikes were flashin' at the risin' of the Moon!


Follows my original version of the Irish, subversive "Whack-fol-the-diddle" song, or "God Bless England," made famous by the Clancy Brothers. 

The New Rainbow
 
I’ll sing you a song of peace and love
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
To a land that leads all lands above
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
May peace and plenty be her share
Who made all marriage free and fair
God Bless gay Ireland is our prayer
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)

(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
So we say, hip hurray!
Come and listen while we say
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)

Where we were shamed, oppressed, and kept
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
Dear Ireland woke and saw and wept
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
She gently urged a change of clime
Ignored the bishops’ doleful chime
And sent us off to church in her own good time

(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
So we say, hip hurray!
Come and listen while we say
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)

Now our dads and mums were married square
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
Of due respect they got their share
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
Their children’s world has been restyled
From Dublin’s George to Galway’s Wilde,
And oh how Mother Church is riled!

(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
So we say, hip hurray!
Come and listen while we say
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)

Now Irishfolk, forget the past!
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
And think of the time that’s coming fast
Photo courtesy of The Guardian
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
When nations all will recognize
How Common Weal’s legitimized
When Irish Green makes Rainbow Skies
 (Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)

 (Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)
So we say, Ireland Gay!
Come and listen while we say
(Whack fol the diddle all the di-dol-day)


Copyright Will Rose 2015

With thanks to the Clancy Brothers for the definitive version of this song’s original.


God Bless Ireland, so I say!

As Ireland this weekend became the first country in the world to legalize gender-neutral marriage through a popular vote, there is a lot to celebrate. If a country with Ireland's long history of political and religious oppression can make such a step toward acceptance -- with a very large majority voting in favor of amending the civil marriage law -- then perhaps there is hope for the United States where 36 states and DC now have equal access to marriage under the law -- though all brought about by courts and legislatures, not voters.

Maybe there is hope for Russia, where homosexuality, even "advocating" or teaching about it, can bring lengthy prison sentences -- a hellish prospect in Russia's notoriously unhealthy and violent prison system.

Maybe there is hope for Caribbean island nations, where vestiges of colonialism still terrorize the minority homosexual population with "anti-buggery" laws that can be arbitrarily enforced. 

Maybe there is hope in Africa -- in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, where American conservative Christian groups have become colonists, planting flags for their bible-based rejection of homosexuality, just as the British and other colonial powers did in the past (perhaps wiping out aboriginal cultures where gender deviance had a place.)

Maybe even Northern Ireland will join the Republic in changing the legal status of homosexual marriage -- soon.


Hurray for Ireland! Green is the new Rainbow!