This is poem about a young Irishman who goes to fight in WW1.It is a touching and emotional piece of poetry.It is orignally a poem written by Eric Bogle.however "The Furies" a famous Irish ballad group sang it.
Well, how do you do, young Willie McBride, Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside? And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun, I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done. And I see by your gravestone you were only 19 When you joined the great fallen in 1916, Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
(chorus) Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the fife lowly? Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down? Did the band play The Last Post in chorus? Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined? And, though you died back in 1916, To that faithful heart are you forever 19? Or are you a stranger without even a name, Eclosed forever behind some glass pane, In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained, And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
(chorus)
The sun, how it shines, on the green fields of France; There is a warm summer breeze,that makes the red poppies dance. The trenches have vanished long 'neath the plow; There is no gas,no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard its still No Man's Land The countless white crosses tand mute in the sand To man's blind indifference to his fellow man. And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
(chorus)
And I can't help but wonder, young Willie McBride, Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe,when you answered "The Cause?" Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain The killing, and dying, were all done in vain, For Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.
This has always been one of my favorite songs. It really makes you stop and think about it all. Soldiers are heroes. I enjoyed the YouTube as well. Thank you for posting this ÓCorcráin.
I had not heard of this before today. It really touches my heart because I could have been sitting at the side of my nephew's grave if things had gone differently for him when he was in Mozul, Iraq. For the time that he was there, I dreaded each phone call that was identified as my mother or his parents. I have not listened to news reports because I hate the thought of him being sent back there.
Thank you so very much for posting this.
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Lady Faerydreamer
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