1
The struggle is over the boys are defeated,
Old Ireland’s surrounded with sadness and gloom,
We were defeated and shamefully treated
And I, Robert Emmet a-waiting my doom.
Hung, drawn and quartered, sure that was my sentence,
But soon I will show them no coward am I,
My crime is the love of the land I was born in,
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.
Chorus:
Bold Robert Emmet, the darling of Erin,
Bold Robert Emmet will die with a smile,
Farewell companions both loyal and daring,
I’ll lay down my life for the Emerald Isle.
2
The barque lay at anchor awaiting to take me
Over the billows to the land of the free;
But I must see my sweetheart for I know she will cheer me,
And with her I will sail far over the sea.
But I was arrested and cast into prison,
Tried as a traitor, a rebel, a spy;
But no one can call me a knave or a coward,
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.
3
Hark! the bell’s tolling, I well know its meaning,
My poor heart tells me it is my death knell;
In come the clergy, the warder is leading,
I have no friends here to bid me farewell.
Good-bye, old Ireland, my parents and sweetheart,
Comrades in arms to forget you must try;
I am proud of the honour, it was only my duty.
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.