ERIN ABOO
Air—"Noċ mbainim sin do."
I.
Arise, men of Erin! for liberty rally,
The rights of your own cherished island defend,
Let freedom's wild chaunt from each mountain and valley,
Sublime to the throne of the Godhead ascend;
Let feuds be forgotten—the curse of our land—
Let parties no longer divide it in two;
And while we together in brotherhood stand,
Our watchword be—Freedom and Erin aboo.
II.
Oh! why should we sever whom God has united,
Whose children are cradled in one dewy isle—
Why think that one spot in that isle must be blighted,
If Heaven on another benignantly smile?
Away with the thought—like our banner of green,
Whose colour combines both the orange and blue,
May all honest sons of old Ireland be seen,
And their watchword be—Freedom and Erin aboo!
III.
Will Ulster stand back while one true heart remembers
The spirit that dwelt in her children of yore?
Who fanned the last spark of our liberty's embers,
Till tyranny dazzled shrunk back from our shore.
No, no; by the graves of your valorous dead!
Who stood forth majestic in proud "Eighty-two,"
If the spirit of men from your hearths be not fled,
Join, Ulster! for—Freedom and Erin aboo!
IV.
She comes—in the struggle for freedom victorious,
Before—she will bend not to slavery now,
Nor sully, by conduct supine and inglorious,
The light with which Fame has encircled her brow.
The North and the South in one brotherhood stand,
The East and the West are united and true,
And far through the length and the breadth of the land
The watchword is—Freedom and Erin aboo!
V.
Accursed be your cause, if there linger within it
One dark stain of falsehood, one relic of guile;
If Freedom we love not, and seek not to win it,
For All without favour that dwell in our isle.
Invoking that God we in common adore,
To do unto us as to others we do;
We swear that no Saxon shall fetter us more,
Our watchword still—Freedom and Erin aboo!