The Union Jack, To the Ulster Volunteers

by Agnes Kerr

 

Ye brave volunteers of Ulster, be true

To your King, to your country and laws;

Keep hoisting the flag, your devotion to show,

For the advancement of liberty’s cause.

 

Though some would fain hoist another, we know,

To float high o’er this gem of the sea;

But with men such as you have for leaders,

Nay, such treachery never can be.

 

There is brave Bonar Law and Sir Edward,

There is Captain Craig, Charles Craig and Moore.

There is Captain O’Neill and the others,

Who will hoist the old flag as of yore.

 

You have signed the great Covenant of Ulster,

For his conscience sake every man, 

And you heart’s blood you’ll shed yet if needs be,

For you cannot, you ne’er will give in.

 

Liberty was dearly bought and handed down

On many a  hard-fought battlefield,

And many happy homes in days gone past

Left desolate; you dare not, you must not yield.

 

But ever be true to the red, white and blue,

Though the clouds handing o’er us look black;

Then, hurrah! for your leaders, you volunteers, too,

And hurrah! for the old Union Jack.

 

Some may say of this beautiful emblem

That it’s only an old coloured rag,

Yet thousands have died for its honour,

This majestic and old time-worn flag.

 

Yet there’s thousands to-day just as willing

As those heroes in days that are past

To lay down their lives for their country’s sake,

To stand firm by the flag to the last.