Wearing of the Green

Oh! Paddy, dear, and did you hear
The news that’s going round,
The shamrock is forbid by law
To grow on Irish ground.
Saint Patrick’s Day no more we’ll keep
His color can’t be seen
For they’re hanging men and women
The wearing of the green.
I met with Napper Tandy
And he took me by the hand
And he said «How's poor old Ireland?
And how does she stand?»
She’s the most distressful country
That ever you have seen,
They’re hanging men and women
For wearing of the green.
Then since the color we must wear
Is England’s cruel red
Sure Ireland’s sons will n’er forget
The blood that they have shed.
You may take the shamrock from your hat
And cast it on the sod,
But 'twill take root and flourish still
Tho' underfoot 'tis trod
Contributed: Marten Busstra 2010]