To Youth (My Sweet Roisin Dubh)

Tell me, why must a man be of service

To his lord and the god seldom high?

From the grave spring the name of our fathers

But there's no glint in a dead man's eye

Tell me, why are our fields filled with hunger

And fruitless the crop, bitter soil?

So, I say my farewell to a nation

As the leaf waves goodbye to it's son

So, it's to youth I sing you this story

And it's of youth I sing it now

Like the train that derails without warning

I must leave what I left far behind

So, goodbye, sweet Roisin Dubh

I say goodbye

Tell me, why must our peace be this puzzle

That fractures the land, splinters war?

The last nails cite the shame in our coffin

But in the end we must all die alone

So, it's to youth I sing you this story

And it's of youth I sing it now

Like the train that derails without warning

Some must leave what they left far behind

So, goodbye, sweet Roisin Dubh

I say goodbye

And the bark fell from tree to the ground that now bleed

On the anguish that never learned to shout

With the clash of the drum, we'll surrender the gun

And on this sadness we shall no longer speak

Until tank and the bomb are but all forgotten songs

That's when I and we will sing again

So, goodbye to my love, my sweet Roisin Dubh

Goodbye now until we meet again

Tell me, why must our grief still be grieving

For a language that never spoke its loss?

But this tongue speak with fire will tear down the barb wire

Rip the belly from the waxy ghost

So, it's to youth I sing you this story

And it's of youth I sing it now

Like the train that derails without warning

We must leave what we left far behind

So, it's to youth I sing you this story

And it's of youth I sing it now

Like the train that derails without warning

We must leave what we left far behind

So, goodbye, sweet Roisin Dubh