Patriot Game

Come all you young rebels and list while I sing
For the love of one's country is a terrible thing.
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame
And it makes us all part of the Patriot Game.
 
My name is O'Hanlon and I'm just gone sixteen.
My home is in Monaugh and where I was weaned.
I've learned all my life cruel England's to blame
And so I'm a part of the Patriot Game.
 
It's barely two years since I wandered away
With the local battalion of the bold IRA.
I read of our heroes and I wanted the same
To play out my part in the Patriot Game.
 
This island of ours has for long been half free.
Six counties are under John Bull's tyranny.
So I gave up my boyhood to drill and to train
To play my own part in the Patriot Game.
 
And now as I lie here my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained and sold.
I wish that my rifle had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the Patriot Game.