James Connolly

The man was all shot through that came to day into the BarrackSquare
 And a soldier I, I am not proud to say that we killed him there
 They brought him from the prison hospital and to see him in thatchair
 I swear his smile would, would far more quickly call a man toprayer
 Maybe, maybe I don't understand this thing that makes theserebels die
 Yet all men love freedom and the spring clear in the sky
 I wouldn't do this deed again for all that I hold by
 As I gazed down my rifle at his breast but then, then a soldierI.
 They say he was different, kindly too apart from all the rest.
 A lover of the poor-his wounds ill dressed.
 He faced us like a man who knew a greater pain
 Than blows or bullets ere the world began: died he in vain
 Ready, Present, and him just smiling, Christ I felt my rifleshake
 His wounds all open and around his chair a pool of blood
 And I swear his lips said, "fire" before my rifle shot thatcursed lead
 And I, I was picked to kill a man like that, James Connolly
 A great crowd had gathered outside of Kilmainham
 Their heads all uncovered, they knelt to the ground.
 For inside that grim prison
 Lay a great Irish soldier
 His life for his country about to lay down.
 He went to his death like a true son of Ireland
 The firing party he bravely did face
 Then the order rang out: Present arms and fire
 James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave
 The black flag was hoisted, the cruel deed was over
 Gone was the man who loved Ireland so well
 There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning
 When they murdered James Connolly-. the Irish rebel