Post by rgs318 on Feb 20, 2021 10:14:16 GMT -5
So we can be prepared to join in when the Irish National Anthem is played, here are the lyrics (Note: I hope there will not be a problem because, like the Stars Spangled Banner, it mentions "slaves"?
I
We'll sing a song, a soldier's song
With cheering, rousing chorus
As round our blazing fires we throng
The starry heavens o'er us
Impatient for the coming fight
And as we wait the morning's light
Here in the silence of the night
We'll chant a soldier's song
Chorus
Soldiers are we,
whose lives are pledged to Ireland,
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave,
Sworn to be free,
no more our ancient sireland,
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the "bearna bhaoil",[fn 5]
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal,
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles' peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song.
II
In valley green, or towering crag
Our fathers fought before us
And conquered 'neath the same old flag
That's proudly floating o'er us
We're children of a fighting race
That never yet has known disgrace
And as we march, the foe to face
We'll chant a soldier's song
Chorus
III
Sons of the Gael! Men of the Pale!
The long-watched day is breaking
The serried ranks of Innisfail
Shall set the tyrant quaking
Our camp fires now are burning low
See in the east a silv'ry glow
Out yonder waits the Saxon foe
So chant a soldier's song
Extra verse
In the summer of 1937, probably motivated by the enactment of the Constitution of Ireland and its inclusion of Northern Ireland within the "national territory", Kearney wrote an extra verse "in answer to a request that the Irish of the Six North-Eastern Counties [i.e. Northern Ireland] could register a protest against the British-planned Partition of Ulster".[175] It was published in The Irish Press in 1938.[176] As of 1998, no recorded version included the extra verse,[175] which runs:[175][n 10]
And here where Eire's glories bide,
Clann London fain would flourish;
But Ulster-wide, whate'er betide,
No pirate blood[n 10] shall nourish;
While flames the faith of Con and Owen,
While Cave Hill guards the fame of Tone,
From Gullion's Slopes to Inishowen
We'll chant a Soldier's Song.
