Classic Poem

Written a week before the Rising.

Air: The Men of the West.

All honour to Oglaigh na hEireann!
All praise to the men of our race,
Who in days of betrayal and slavery
Saved Eire from shame and disgrace.
But do not forget in your praising
Of them and the deeds they have done,
Their loyal and true-hearted comrades,
The soldiers of Cumann na mBan.

Chorus:

They stand for the honour of Ireland,
As their sisters in days that are gone,
And they'll march with their brothers to freedom —
The soldiers of Cumann na mBan!

No great-hearted daughter of Ireland
Who died for her sake long ago,
Who stood in the gap of her danger,
Defying the Sasanach foe,
Was ever more valiant or worthy
Of glory in high-sounding rann
Than the comrades of Oglaigh na hEireann,
The soldiers of Cumann na mBan!
Chorus .

O, high beats the heart of our mother!
The day she has longed for is nigh,
When the sunshine of joy and of freedom
Shall glow in the Eastern sky.
And none shall be honoured more proudly
That morning, by chieftain and clann,
Than the daughters who served her in danger,
The soldiers of Cumann na mBan!
Chorus .