Slán Libh ('goodbye')

Sisters and brothers, comrades all,
Who trod the olden road with me,
Who, answering a nation's call,
Dear mother Éire swore to free.
To you who carry on the fight,
My share of deathless hope, I give,
Before I pass into the night,
Slán Libh [a chairde], Slán Libh.

Your work allows no time for rest,
Your longest life's the merest span,
Your cause: the bravest, noblest, best,
That e'er inspired the heart of man.
Fight on! Fear not! For God is just,
The tyrant too, shall cease to live,
And pray for him, whose bones are dust,
Slán Libh [a chairde], Slán Libh.

"Slán Libh", a simple Irish phrase,
Of parting, but to meet again,
Twixt comrades, who, through nights and days,
For Éire's sake - strove might and main.
For her dear sake, remember me,
For her dear sake, my faults forgive,
God speed the fight for liberty!
Slán Libh [a chairde], Slán Libh.

Words by Peadar Kearney, music by Sean Barlow, one of Kearney's old friends from the Abbey Theatre, (and the man charged with the task of physically barring Seán O'Casey from the stage in 1926 at the time of the row over The Plough and Stars).

This ia a beautiful song, seldom recorded, but it has been by Dominic Behan and more recently by the brilliant Brian Moore.