Aughrim in the Rain

Fog on the ridge, cold in the bone
Galway soil like a grave we’d sown
Powder wet and fingers numb
Waiting for what we knew would come

No priest nearby, no blessing said
Just rain on iron above our heads
St. Ruth rode past - proud and tall
God help us, we believed it all

---

Rain in the eyes
Salt on the tongue
We were men
But most of us young

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Aughrim burned and we burned with it
Mud in the mouth and blood on the spit
Galway cried but the sky stayed still
And hope ran red down Aughrim hill

No angel came, no mercy shown
The earth took back what it was loaned
When St. Ruth fell - I felt it plain
Something inside me died in the rain

---

One flash white through the choking smoke
One brutal roar - and the backbone broke
I saw him fall, I heard men scream
Like waking hard from a broken dream

Redcoats pushing through hedge and thorn
Faces set and uniforms torn
We slipped in blood, we cursed, we prayed
And felt our line begin to fade

---

Hands in the clay
Steel in the side
Brothers I’d laughed with
Falling beside

---

Aughrim burned and we burned with it
Teeth clenched hard just to stand a bit
Galway wept in smoke and flame
And none of us would be the same

No banner left against the sky
No last grand charge, no battle cry
When St. Ruth fell - we felt it plain
The old world drowned in rain

---

They’ll speak of ships and foreign shores
Of Wild Geese flight and closing doors
But I still hear that cannon’s breath
And see my friend choke slow on death

I held his coat, he held my hand
Said, "Don’t let them take the land."
But land was mud and mud was grave
And none of us were saved

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Aughrim burned - I hear it still
In every drop on Galway hill
Mud and blood on the twelfth o’ day
That washed our youth away

Sing it low where the heather lies
Under the cold and weeping skies
In wind and rain I knew it plain -
Ireland broke that day