A CROATIAN ONCE AGAIN

When I was but a callow youth,
I read of brave swordsmen and horsemen
Who stood on the Adriatic coast
For to save their ancient kingdom.
Oh, could such days return again?
Do I hope in vain?--
When instead of being a Yugoslav
I'd be a Croatian again.

A Croatian once again,
A Croatian once again,
Now instead of being a Yugoslav,
I'm a Croatian again.

Now as I grew from youth to man,
This Yugoslav world was shattered.
Once Marshal Tito upped and died,
His Federation was soon in tatters.
New nation states soon re-emerged
From Slovenia to Macedonia and then,
I awoke one morn to find myself
A Croatian once again.

A Croatian once again,
A Croatian once again,
I awoke one morn to find myself
A Croatian once again.

So, now I sit by the radio
Listening to the BBC World Service,
And in that Anglo-Saxon tongue,
I hear folk songs strange and various.
One Irish tune I oft times hear,
And it has a grand refrain:
'Tis the Wolfe Tones calling unto me:
A Croatian once again!

A Croatian once again,
A Croatian once again,
'Tis the Wolfe Tones calling unto me
A Croatian once again.

© Pat "the Verse" Burke 2002

A CROATIAN ONCE AGAIN

I received an e-mail from someone before last Christmas to ask me to vote for the Wolfe Tones singing "A Nation Once Again" in a BBC World Service Poll. They subsequently won and "A Nation Once Again" was voted the most popular song in the Queen's English! So, I couldn't resist putting fingers to keyboard!