The Connaught Rangers (2)

All in the morning when the day was dawning,
They took him down into the grim dark square
And there they shot him, and soon forgot him
For a soldier reck'd no worry be he here nor there.
"Aim for my heart, lads!" he cried unto them
"For this your majesty pays ten shillings each day
May God forgive you!" His gesture threw them
Then he bravely stood and died the soldier's only way.

The sun was burning when home returning
Through Indian street they walked so far from their God
No man spoke to them for all who knew them
Said, "These are the riflemen of Daly's firing squad."
"We had our orders, we had to just obey them
How can we but refuse our Colonel's rightful command?"
But men turned from them for there upon them
Was the blood of Ireland's hero shot in India's land.

But we salute him and pay tribute to him
We'll put his name before us now in letters of gold,
For Ireland's winning we're just beginning
And the Empire that destroyed you is growing old.
Each freeborn nation is Daly's salvation
Each country free is another link gone
In the chain that bound men to kill and hound men
For a diamond in the blood-red setting of the English crown.

note: In 1916, Lance Corporal Daly was executed in India following
a mutiny by Connaught Rangers on hearing of the execution of the
1916 leaders.

RG
APR99