The Patriot Game

Come all you young rebels
And list while I sing
For the love of one's country
Is a terrible thing.
It banishes fear with
The speed of a flame
And it makes us all part of the Patriot Game.

My name is O'Hanlon
And I'm just turned sixteen,
My home is in Monaghan
That's where I was weaned.
I've learned all my life
Cruel England's to blame,
And so I'm a part of the Patriot Game.

This Ireland of ours has
For long been half-free,
Six counties are under
John Bull's tyranny.
So we gave up our boyhood
For to drill and to train,
To play our own part in the Patriot Game.

It's barely two years since
They wandered away,
With the local battalion
Of the bould IRA.
For they'd read of their heroes
And they wanted the same,
To play their own part in the Patriot Game

And now as I lie here,
My body all holes,
I think of those traitors
Who bargained and sold.
I wish that my rifle
Had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the Patriot Game.

Back to text Notes:

1. A variant third verse runs:

This Ireland of mine has for long been half-free
Six Counties are under John Bull's Monarchy
But still De Valera is greatly to blame
For shirking his part in the patriot game.

[Back to text] [Home] [Links] [Support]