In Memory of Robert Emmet and Other Heros of Ireland
Against all hope, with only hope,
They held their Pikes in hand
Catholic, Protestant, Dissenters together,
To break the link with England.
They made their stand, stood together brave,
On blood soaked Dublin streets
Hopeless effort for a hopeless cause
Their only prize their own defeat.
An army proud in uniform,
With barracks that marched to drum
Stood idly by when homes were burned
Claim from his tradition to have come.
Nyeucks became men, and men heros,
An army of commoners and angry men,
Proved a hopeless case is a worthy cause
As they took up arms again.
For thirty years, long and hard they fought
Fighting some outside the Peace remain,
I hope their belief that ended their fight
Will not be a Hope in Vain.
Innocents they killed, in bigoted actions,
Based on faith and politics, its true,
That happens in all wars,
That it happens afterwards, we rue.
But those of us who did not do the fighting,
Who for a United Ireland in arms have not bid,
In the spirit of Emmet in 1803
Have not to right to criticize those who did.
Robert Emmets “Speech from the Dock“