The Wearing Of The Green

Trad

Oh, Paddy dear and did you hear
The news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is by law forbid
To grow on Irish ground
Saint Patrick’s Day no more we’ll keep
His colours can’t be seen
For they’re hanging men and women
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green

I met with Napper Tandy
And he took me by the hand
He said, “How’s dear old Ireland
And how does she stand?”
“She’s the most distressful country
That you have ever seen
For they’re hanging men and women
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green”

For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
They’re hanging men and women
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green

Then since the colour we must wear
Is England’s cruel red
Sure Irelands sons will ne’er forget
The blood that they have shed
You may take the shamrock from your hat
And cast it on the sod
But ’twill take root and flourish there
Though underfoot ’tis trod

My father loved his country
And sleeps within its breast
While I that would have died for her
Must never so be blessed
Those tears my mother shed for me
How bitter they’ve had been
If I had proved a traitor to
The Wearin’ o’ the Green

For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
They’re hanging men and women
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green

But if at last our colours
Should be torn from Irelands heart
Her sons with shame and sorrow
From the dear old isle will part
I’ve heard a whisper of a land
That lies beyond the sea
Where rich and poor stand equal
In the light of Freedom’s day

Oh Ireland must we leave you
Driven by a tyrants hand
And seek a Mother’s blessing
From a strange and distant land
Where the cruel cross of England
Shall never more be seen
And in that land we’ll live and die
Still wearing Ireland’s green

For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green
They’re hanging men and women
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green