Our favourite Facebook group has produced a patriotic poem that will bring a tear to your eye.
‘Oh my god what a complete Aisling’ has had its finger on the pulse of modern day Ireland since it's creation.
Aidan Strangeman called on the group’s members to contribute to a poetry experiment and included all lines that had ten likes or more on the page.
The result is phenomenal.
For those of you who are not members of this prestigious online gathering of Irish folk, I have copied the final result below.
We salute you OMGWACA members, you hold more power than you know.
IRELAND IS
(written by the members of OMGWACA)
"Leigh anois go curamach, ar do chuid phaipear, na treoreacha,
agus na gceisteanna, a ghabann le chuid na Nollaig.
BOOOOP."
Ireland is fluent in Irish,
as long it's just two people asking to go to the loo.
Ireland is a Memmeh shouting
"Close the door, you're letting the heat out"
every time you walked in or out of a room.
Ireland is a Deddeh who can't say how much he misses you.
Where it rains in the front garden,
but it's a rainbow out the back
Beautiful, but terrible at handling her cash
Ireland is a press, full of plastic bags
Ireland is a family, walking in for a chat...
...when you're sleeping next to your shocked foreign spouse
and you're not really sure if you're going out or "out out"?
It's a seven letter word but no use in Scrabble,
(as it's a proper noun.)
It's an anagram of "dire anal"
(if you add in an "A", and wash out your filthy mouth!)
It's bacon, it's cabbage, it's acting the maggot
It's the official home of rainbow marriage
And also the home of chicken fillet rolls
Where warms hearts send blood to numb toes
while we listen to the death notices on our radios
and give single finger waves on country roads.
Where a hug means you're safe now, you're home,
or "home home."
It's a woman whose body and choices are not her own
It's a fictional priest with a quote for every occasion
Where atheists baptise children, so they can get an education
Ireland is midnight mass at 9 o' clock
It's opening a Roses' tin to find it's a sewing box
Where Craic is good and Bold is bad.
A place you're allowed slag off if you're Irish,
but woe betide anyone else who slags.
It's thousands of people on a Facebook forum
taking the piss out of themselves
Where the wit is dry but the weather is wet
Ireland is agreeing, except on the "in" breath
(you know, like, "yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah...")
Ireland is moist.
It's a land where rain defies the laws of physics
Where loving yourself is seen as being too big for your boots,
contributing to crippling mental illness.
a soggy little rock, onto which our dreams cling like limpets
Where every child of any faith is welcome to come along and be Catholic
Where "Pennys" is an acceptable response to a compliment on your outfit
Ireland is a Tayto sandwich
Ireland puts clothes on the line in November
because using the tumble dryer would be fierce extravagance altogether!
It's a damp-eyed tune with a wooden spoon
and worrying about that person you gave directions to
where "few naggins?" is the answer to all problems
Ireland is home, even for yer wan who is "forrin"
A mam waking ya up saying it's 8am when it's only 7.15
A Mammy offering you a sandwich
even though she's not your Mammy.
Ireland is my home, my heart and my blood.
and Memmeh not answering the phone to about 10 calls
then having a conniption when you miss one!
Ireland is not using the good room
GAA in September, no drinks in November
Where a potato in a suit is a national treasure
It's the squint on a loch against the cold autumn sun
and the fog of glorious stories condensing on the pub's
window pane
it's easy to leave, but impossible to escape
Ireland is thanking the bus driver for getting us there, safe.
Ireland is where NO UNNECESSARY JOURNEYS should take place!
Ireland is a box of fancy biscuits no one is allowed to eat, just in case
Ireland is like your mother, it drives you mad but you love it.
And thinking that stuff people from literally every country do is uniquely Irish
(even though everybody does it)
Ireland is green fields, Ireland is laughter.
Ireland is politicially a disaster
When your Memmeh says "We're not made of money"
as an answer to almost everything
(even though the answer is usually Sudocrem.)
Ireland is cutting the garden because the neighbours did theirs.
Your Memmeh saying ''tis far from
(insert notiony, notion thing here) ye were reared'
every time you express an idea that's not her's.
Ireland is the tinny sound of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh
rattling through the wireless on a Sunday in late September
Ireland is giving directions by describing a pub
Ireland is stuck between Brexit and Trump
And yet, a story so big mere borders cannot contain her
and she's told around the world by her daughters and her sons
Ireland is a street where people sleep under Christmas Lights.
Ireland is solving the entire world's problems a cup of tay at a time
Ireland is not being able to say goodbye...
"okay, Bye now, bye, bye, ok , I'll see you later, bye, bye, byeeeee, bye, bye..."