BRAVE FRANK
STAGG
By
SEAMUS ROBINSON © 1976
( for Vol. Frank Stagg, IRA, who died on hunger strike in Wakefield Prison on the 12th of February 1976. His last
wish was to be taken home to Mayo and buried next to his comrade and friend, Michael Gaughan. Free-State forces
hijacked his body to prevent a republican funeral. They buried him in a grave not of his family's choosing and
covered it over with concrete. Nine months later an IRA unit retrieved his body and with full military honours
successfully carried out the last wish of brave Frank Stagg. )
In a cruel British prison, a
brave Irish soldier lies;
Body thin and weak with hunger, as the light fades from his eyes.
By his side – two women weeping, one is old and one is young;
On their knees to God appealing, in their soft sweet Mayo tongue.
“Ah, my loves,” the young man murmurs. “Do not cry your tears for me,
For my time is nearly over, and today I will be free.
I can see a bright sun shining on my own green Mayo fields,
And I see dear Michael Gaughan, waiting there beneath the trees.”
In
that cruel British prison, just before the break of day,
With his loved ones there beside him, that brave soldier passed away.
But
he lives in
Yes
he lives in