I woke up in my cell today, four walls where I'm confined With shackles on my wrists and feet, they cannot chain my mind For I was born a patriot of scholars and of saints I'll be a son of Ireland, until my dying day Born unto a father who would work 'til his hands bled I watched those war cat soldiers remove him from his bed And fill him full of rounds until they left him where he lay He was a son of Ireland until his dying day I think of my poor brother who gave his life to free The people of his home where he grew up, just him and me And I weep because I cannot go and sit beside his grave He was a son of Ireland until his dying day To all my active comrades so fearless volunteers Your names and acts of defiance will whisper through the years They rid our land of iron hands is what the youth will say Oh, you all were sons of Ireland until your dying day And all the men that went before, from Connolly to Sands We did our best to insure your names would always last From the GPO and four courts to the H blocks where you lay You all were sons of Ireland until your dying day They opened up my cell today to find it was my last For in the night, I passed away of skin, and bone, and rags And I spoke to God, and he told, "me son there's one thing left to say" You were a son of Ireland, today's your dying day