| The eFoggy Dewf is to me one of the most evocative and haunting songs Ifve ever heard and I have heard many. It tells the story of a dark week in the history of the British Empire and, in retrospect, a glorious week in the history of Ireland. On Monday the 24th of April, 1916, a handful of men ill-equipped, ill-led and ill-starred went out to face the might of the greatest empire the world had ever seen. They failed, of course, and their failure resulted in the deaths of many innocent people and large parts of the centre of Dublin, one of the fairest cities in Europe, being reduced to a smouldering ruin. Yet from the embers of a burning Dublin a spark was lit that carried a nation to freedom and aggravated what has been called the erunning sore of British politicsf so much that it still suppurates to this day. |
The Foggy Dew
'Twas down the glen one Easter morn
To a city fair rode I.
When Ireland's line of marching men
In squadrons passed me by.
No pipe did hum, no battle drum
Did sound its dread tattoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey's swell
Rang out in the foggy dew.
Right proudly high over Dublin town
They flung out a flag of war.
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar.
And from the plains of Royal Meath
Strong men came hurrying through;
While Britannia's sons with their long-range guns
Sailed in through the foggy dew.
Oh, the night fell black and the rifles crack
Made "Perfidious Albion" reel
'Mid the leaden rail, seven tongues of flame
Did shine o'er the lines of steel
By each shining blade, a prayer was said
That to Ireland her sons be true
And when morning broke still the war flag shook
Out its fold in the Foggy Dew.
'Twas England bade our Wild Geese go
That small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves
or the fringe of the grey North Sea
Oh had they died by Pearse's side,
or had fought with Cathal Brugha
Their graves we'd keep where the Fenians sleep,
'neath the shroud of the Foggy Dew.
But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell
Rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide
In the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, with deep amaze,
At those fearless men and true
Who bore the fight that freedom's light
Might shine through the Foggy Dew.
Ah, back through the glen I rode again,
And my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men
Whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go
And I'd kneel and pray for you
For slavery fled, O glorious dead,
When you fell in the Foggy Dew.