Childrens laughter and childrens tears
Childish joys of childhood years
Fondest memories of our once happy home
It's not death that bring the pain
I would face it all again
But it grieves me me so to leave you all alone
Do the wee ones still sigh
When they hear their Daddy's name?
Do they sadly ask you why I won't be home again?
How hard it is to know
I'll never see them grow
Let my dying bring for them a better life
May they never know the fears
That have blighted my young years
Nor the shackles that have bound my native land
May they see the joy of life
And not cruel civil strife
Foreign laws imposed by brutal strangers' hands
Chorus
Let them grow in love and truth
Let them blossom into youth
Guided by their mother's loving hand
Let them cherish Ireland's pride
For this Joe McDonnell died
Let them know their father loved them and his land
Chorus