The Irish Brigade - Tom Williams (Free At Last) lyrics
[The Irish Brigade - Tom Williams Free At Last lyrics]
On the second of September, 1942
At the age of nineteen years
The tenant, Tom Williams
Belfast brigade of the Irish Republican Army
Was hanged at Cromlin Road gaol
Not satisfied with having taken the life
Of this brave young Irish soldier
The British authorities buried his body in
An unmarked grave within the prison walls
Almost sixty years of protest passed
Before the British government
Finally relented and released the remains of
This Irish patriot
Tom Williams was finally laid to rest
By his friends, family, and former comrades
On the nineteenth of January
In the year 2000
And now lies at peace in his mother's grave
Close beside Ireland's honoured dead
In Belfast's Republican Plot
Time goes past as years roll onward
Still fresh in my memory I will keep
Of that night in Belfast prison
Unashamedly I saw men weep
For as the time was fast approaching
A lad lay sentenced for to die
And on the second of September
Oh, he goes to meet his God on high
And now he's standing to attention
His head erect he shows no fear
And while marching to that scaffold
Oh, Ireland's cross he holds most dear
And now the cruel blow has fallen
For Ireland he has given all
He, who in the flower of manhood
Oh, so proudly answered to her call
Brave Tom Williams we salute you
And we never will forget
Those who planned your brutal murder
Oh, we vow we'll make them all regret
And now a word to Irish rebels
Who from Tom's path they chance to stray
Just keep in memory of that morn
When Ireland's cross was proudly borne
By a lad no longer in the prison grave
At the age of nineteen years
The tenant, Tom Williams
Belfast brigade of the Irish Republican Army
Was hanged at Cromlin Road gaol
Not satisfied with having taken the life
Of this brave young Irish soldier
The British authorities buried his body in
An unmarked grave within the prison walls
Almost sixty years of protest passed
Before the British government
Finally relented and released the remains of
This Irish patriot
Tom Williams was finally laid to rest
By his friends, family, and former comrades
On the nineteenth of January
In the year 2000
And now lies at peace in his mother's grave
Close beside Ireland's honoured dead
In Belfast's Republican Plot
Time goes past as years roll onward
Still fresh in my memory I will keep
Of that night in Belfast prison
Unashamedly I saw men weep
For as the time was fast approaching
A lad lay sentenced for to die
And on the second of September
Oh, he goes to meet his God on high
And now he's standing to attention
His head erect he shows no fear
And while marching to that scaffold
Oh, Ireland's cross he holds most dear
And now the cruel blow has fallen
For Ireland he has given all
He, who in the flower of manhood
Oh, so proudly answered to her call
Brave Tom Williams we salute you
And we never will forget
Those who planned your brutal murder
Oh, we vow we'll make them all regret
And now a word to Irish rebels
Who from Tom's path they chance to stray
Just keep in memory of that morn
When Ireland's cross was proudly borne
By a lad no longer in the prison grave