James Connelly Lyrics

James Connelly lyrics

James Connolly
Collected and Arranged by The Wolfe Tones

The man was
all shot through that came to day into the Barrack Square
And a soldier I, I
am not proud to say that we killed him there
They brought him from the prison
hospital and to see him in that chair
I swear his smile would, would far more
quickly call a man to prayer
Maybe, maybe I don't understand this thing that
makes these rebels die
Yet all men love freedom and the spring clear in the
sky
I wouldn't do this deed again for all that I hold by
As I gazed down
my rifle at his breast but then, then a soldier I.
They say he was
different, kindly too apart from all the rest.
A lover of the poor-his
wounds ill dressed.
He faced us like a man who knew a greater pain
Than
blows or bullets ere the world began: died he in vain
Ready, Present, and
him just smiling, Christ I felt my rifle shake
His wounds all open and
around his chair a pool of blood
And I swear his lips said, "fire"
before my rifle shot that cursed lead
And I, I was picked to kill a man like
that, James Connolly
A great crowd had gathered outside of
Kilmainham
Their heads all uncovered, they knelt to the ground.
For
inside that grim prison
Lay a great Irish soldier
His life for his
country about to lay down.
He went to his death like a true son of
Ireland
The firing party he bravely did face
Then the order rang out:
Present arms and fire
James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave
The
black flag was hoisted, the cruel deed was over
Gone was the man who loved
Ireland so well
There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning
When
they murdered James Connolly-. the Irish rebel