O'Donovan Rossa's Farewell to Dublin
Padraig Pearse
Adieu my friends,
in Dublin Town I bid you all adieu; I cannot yet appoint the day When I'll return to you. I write these lines
aboard a ship Where stormy billows roar, May the heavens save our Fenian boys Till I return on shore.
Let
no one blame the turnkey Or any of his men, There's no one knows but the two of us THe man that stood my friend. I
robbed no man, I shed no blood, Though they sent me to jail, Because I was O'Donovan Rossa, A son to Granuawale.
I
joined the Fenian Brotherhood In the year of Sixty Four, Bound to save my native land Or perish on the shore. My
friends and me we did agree Our native land to save, And plant the flag of Freedom At the head of Emmet's grave.
My
curse attend the traitors false Who did our cause betray, I would tie a millstone round their necks And drown them
in the sea. There is Nagle, Noone, O'Brien And Power to make four Like demons for their conduct In hell they loudly
roar.
There's O'Leary and young Mackey And the brave O'Donovan Ross, It grieved me for to part with them When
I left Harld's Cross; But if he lives and prospers, boys, The truth he does declare, Like O'Mahony in America The
green flag he must wear.
Cheer up my gallant Fenian men The day is not far away, When our Fenian boys the flag
will raise And trample tyranny. Our gallant sons beyond the seas Will join in unity; And we will raise the flag
of freedom And fight for liberty.
|