A Civil War Lament
Author: Tom Williams, Taghmon

A Civil War Lament
Author: Tom Williams, Taghmon

The meadow grass has not been mown and the headland’s overgrown
And from the woods of Gurteencrin the pheasant cock has lately flown.
The soft red apples lie despoiled, on my mother’s orchard ground,
And Autumn’s sun, its short day done, casts shadows all around.

The old folk tend the pastures now for the young men have all gone
To fight with grief for their belief, ‘twas a bitter feud and long;
My brother, with his Thompson gun, faced me across the moor
And against God’s will, I shot to kill, my sorrow will endure.

The crossroads where the dancing feet sent echoes down the lane
Are empty now, and many a brow is creased with grief and pain.
Oh, who will cross the wide divide, and take my brother’s hand?
Oh, who was with him when he died near Slaney’s shifting sand?

How can we heal the broken rifts that separate us now,
For friend fought friend until the end, can we smile again, and how
Can hate and fear of yesteryear diminish in our minds?
Oh, the Civil War was a cruel war to break the ties that bind.

But the ash tree lives, and its seedlings give a hope to boy and man,
And the GAA once more held sway in the fields where the hurlers ran;
And the verdant spring a hope did bring, and the fields were tilled again,
And the carefree sounds from the sporting grounds came echoing down the lane.

The song was passed from the Wexford singer, Paddy Berry, to Tony Malone