Lyr Req: Native Swords (Thomas Davis)

Subject: Lyr Req: Thomas David 'Native Swords' ?
From: Sabine
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM

A friendly hello to everyone out there.
Maybe a few will remember me :o) (hopefully....)

Someone asked me for the lyrics of the song mentioned above. But I must give in, never heard this before. I also couldn't finde it in the database.
It would be great if anyone could help me.

Kindest regards

Sabine

CantaLibre - more than just folk

Subject: Lyr Add: NATIVE SWORDS (Thomas Davis)
From: weerover
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:59 AM

NATIVE SWORDS

(A Volunteer song - 1st July 1792)

We've bent too long to braggart wrong,
While force our prayers derided;
We've fought too long ourselves among,
By knaves and priests divided;
United now, no more we'll bow;
Foul faction, we discard it;
And now, thank God! our native sod
Has Native Swords to guard it.

Like rivers which, o'er valleys rich,
Bring ruin in their water,
Our native land a native hand
Flung foreign fraud and slaughter.
From Dermod's crime to Tudor's time
Our clans were our perdition;
Religion's name, since then, became
Our pretext for division.

But, worse than all! with Limerick's fall
Our valour seemed to perish;
Or, o'er the main, in France and Spain,
For bootless vengeance flourish.
The peasant here grew pale for fear
He'd suffer for our glory,
While France sang joy for Fontenoy,
And Europe hymned our story.

But now no clan nor factions plan
The east and west can sunder -
Why Ulster e'er should Munster fear
Can only wake our wonder.
Religion's crost when Union's lost,
And "royal gifts" retard it;
And now, thank God! our native sod
Has Native Swords to guard it.

By Thomas Davis, punctuation as in "Irish Minstrelsy"

wr

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thomas David 'Native Swords' ?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 12:31 PM

The name is not Thomas David, but
THOMAS (OSBORNE) DAVIS (1814 - 1845), poet and nationalist. Born 14th Oct 1814, Mallow, County Cork. He was the author of "A Nation Once Again" too.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thomas David 'Native Swords' ?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 07:12 PM

Collections of some of his poems:

Ballads of Thomas Davis*

POETRY OF THOMAS DAVIS

Ireland's OWN (go on to "Poetry & Prose", and to "Thomas Davis")*

*containing "Native Swords"