To Michael Collins

Oh noble Michael Collins you were Cork and Ireland's pride And the day you died at Beal na Mblaith a part of Ireland died You died under sniper gunfire whilst still in your life's bloom At Beal Na Mblaith 'The Gap Of Flowers' between Bandon and Macroom. Who was the man who murdered you the one with satan mind Was he a fellow Irishman one of your fellow kind Or was he a hired killer working for the British Crown And sent across to Ireland with a gun to gun you down? What matter now who murdered you in such a cowardly way Who gunned you down at Beal Na Mblaith at twilight of the day? It took a chicken hearted man to fire that fatal shot His killing you was craven act and cowards are best forgot. But what matter most brave Irishman your death was not in vain Your death brought an end to bitterness to suffering and pain, Your death brought an end to bloodshed and healed the bleeding scar That was brought about in Ireland by a bloody civil war. Yet there are those in Ireland who still scorn your very name Who blame you for the civil war who put on you the blame Yet lest those people should forget that there's wrong and there is right And that there is more than one side to the story of a fight. And those who hated you the most rose to the heights of fame And those who hated you the most by knocking you did gain But those who knock a dead man must be classified as weak As a dead man cannot answer back a dead man cannot speak. Oh noble Michael Collins others used you as a tool By sending you to sign the treaty that ended British rule It was you who signed the treaty that started civil strife A civil war that ended with the taking of your life.