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THE PATRIOT GAME
(Dominic Behan)

Come all ye 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've just turned sixteen
My home is in Monaghan, and where I was weaned
I learned all my life cruel England's to blame
So now I am part of the patriot game

It's nearly two years since I wandered away
With the local battalion of the bold IRA
I learned of our heroes, and wanted the same
To play my own part of the Patriot game

This island of ours has too long been half free
Six counties lie under John Bull's tyranny
So I gave up my boyhood to drill and to train
And that made me a part of the Patriot game

They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair
His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare
His fine body twisted, all battered and lame
They soon made me part of the patriot game

But now as I lie here, my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained in souls
And I wish that my rifle had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the patriot game


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