I am going to post a poem, written probably 150 years ago, and originally pointed out to me by Philippa (How are you, my friend?). Sean Tyrell set it to music, and I have now begun to perform it at every performance. In it the author uses the Orange Lily and its green stem as a metaphor for the parties, and the good soil is Ireland. This isn't about being Orange or Green, it is about being Irish. The poem is so relevant today....................

12th of July

Come pledge again your heart and your hand
One grasp that will never sever
Our password be our native land, our motto love forever
And let the Orange Lily be,
your badge my patriot brother.
It's the everlasting green for me,
and we.......for one another

Behold how green that gallant stem,
on which the flower is blooming
How in one heavenly breeze and beam,
both flower and stem are glowing
The same good soil sustaining both
makes both united flourish
Yet cannot give the orange growth
and cease the green to nourish

The more the hand that plucks that flower
Will vainly strive to cherish
But in that hour the stem blooms on
The flower it begins to perish
Regard them then of equal worth
While last their genial weather
The time's at hand when deep in earth
They will both sink together

And even though it be in our country's cause
Our party feelings blended
'Til lasting peace from equal laws
On both will have descended
'Til then the Orange Lily be
Your badge my patriot brother
It's the everlasting green for me
And we........for one another