St. Patrick's Day (Written In Honor Of "The Donal"- Donal Mahoney, In Thanks For The Pleasure I've Had Reading His Wonderful Poems And Stories, Particularly Of Ireland.) Poem by Eugene Levich

Eugene, I thank you for the poem, Gene, and I can tell you as a former Irish step dancer when I was a teenager, your last verse captures the ambiance and rhythm of what was called the feis, the contest held once a year where young Irish dancers from the U.S. and different countries gathered to compete against one another. I remember riding a train from Chicago to New York in 1954 to dance at Fordham University and our eight-hand jig beat everybody EXCEPT a team of old men with their partners who had been drinking all night, then sobered up and at noon the next day danced us into the ground. We were dancing to win and they were dancing for fun. The music is still in my blood and when I hear it I sometimes am moved to tears. It's the only music that ever really moved me, although dancing to Glen Miller and In the Mood would come a close second. Zygazunt!