patron of the arts

Bono from U2 wrote a poem about Ukraine that Nancy Pelosi read aloud for St. Patrick's Day

Congressional leaders ... they've done it again! 

During the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon at the Capitol on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shared a special celebrity treat with the crowd — a St. Patrick's Day limerick about the Russian invasion of Ukraine written by none other than U2 frontman Bono, The Hill reports. Yes, you read that correctly.

The poem begins, of course, by recalling how Saint Patrick of Ireland "drove out the snakes," only to later liken the evil serpents to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heavenly Saint Patrick to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Ireland's sorrow and pain / Is now the Ukraine," Bono wrote, "And Saint Patrick's name now Zelensky."

This is, of course, hardly the first time celebrities have had a hand in congressional celebrations or events – in January, for example, lawmakers commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot with a prerecorded performance from the cast of Hamilton.

Watch Pelosi's full poetry reading, and the subsequent Riverdance performance, below.