BRENDAN  ( BEHAN)

( IN MEMORY OF BRENDAN BEHAN )

by

SEAMUS  ROBINSON   © 1976

 

(1)

After you were dead, all the wise men said –

You were just another fool;

Writing silly plays in your Irish ways,

And your drinking-all-the-day rule.

But they never knew the real you,

Or they wouldn’t talk that way;

No, they never knew all that you came through –

Never knew the good and bad day.

 

( chorus )

And the words you wrote  bring a lump to my throat,           

And tears into my eyes;

O it’s little I thought your soul would be sought

So soon for Paradise –

Oh – oh – oh –  Brendan,

Oh – oh – oh –  Brendan.

 

(2)

In a Dublin pub or a New York club,

You were always spreading the joy;

With your laughing face all about the place –

Everybody’s curly-haired boy.

But your twinkling eyes could not disguise

The suffering in your mind;

For underneath was a well of grief –

And a heart that cried for mankind.

 

( chorus twice )