OLD  COALISLAND

( For Hugh Gerard Coney, shot dead by British

soldiers, whilst attempting to escape from Long

Kesh concentration camp November 6^th 1974. )

by

SEAMUS  ROBINSON   © 1974

 

I wish I was in old Coalisland,

That’s where the sweet whin bushes grow;

Playing in the sand of old Coalisland –

Ah now it seems so long, long ago.

For here am I in cold Long Kesh,

Condemned to be an internee;

But soon I’ll be in old Coalisland –

For on this day I know I shall be free.

 

The soldiers came to old Coalisland,

And to their prison they brought me;

Because I said that this was my land –

It seems that I must be an internee.

But Freedom lives in every man,

And does not die so easily;

And soon I’ll be in old Coalisland –

For on this day I know I shall be free.

 

We made a tunnel from our compound,

To take us out to Liberty;

And soon we stood near to the safe ground –

A few more steps and free men we would be.

I never saw the soldiers waiting,

Nor heard the shots they fired at me.

Now soon I’ll be in old Coalisland –

For on this day I knew I would be free.

 

I wish I was in old Coalisland,

That’s where the sweet whin bushes grow;

Playing in the sand of old Coalisland –

Ah now it seems so long, long ago.

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