In Memoriam

by Pádraig De Brún

In memory of Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellows, Joseph McKelvey, and Richard Barrett. Executed at Mountjoy Jail, December 8th, 1922.

Rory and Liam are dead and gone,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

Slain at the Eighth of December’s dawn,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Rory and Liam and Dick and Joe,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

Red is their hearts’ blood, their souls like snow,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Their slayers have rung no passing bell,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

But the rifles’ crack is their funeral knell,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Their eyes are steady in face of death,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

For their minds are rapt by the vision of faith,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

For Winter will pass and Spring be born,

Start of the Morning, Mary, come,

And Freedom will waken the land at morn,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

And what is Death but an Envoy sped,

Start of the Morning, Mary, come,

With a call from the Heaven of Ireland’s dead?

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Why reckon the pangs that have sufficed,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

To bring free souls to their Captain Christ;

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Rory and Liam are dead and gone,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

They have found the lights that go out at dawn,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

 

Rory and Liam and Dick and Joe,

Star of the Morning, Mary, come,

Our starlight fades, but the road they know,

Mary Immaculate, guide them home.

Source: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000116508