John Banim - Oh, Well I Love To See Thee lyrics

``Oh, well I love to see thee So bravely look, my only boy-- But thy courage--can it free thee? Alas, alas, it may destroy! 'Twas in your father's eye, boy, The day they dragg'd him by our door, A shameful d**h to die, boy, Ere thee to him thy mother bore!'' ``They shall not drag me, mother, Like him, unto the gallows tree-- They shall not tear another, The last and only one, from thee; And yet shall they restore me The rights they've robb'd from him and me, Or else--while Heaven is o'er me-- A worse foe than my father see!'' ``What mean you now, my own boy? Your d**h upon their fighting field Would leave me all as lone, boy, As any which their hate can yield!'' ``Mother, I do not fear them, Even should they dare the worst they could; Yet never will I cheer them A challenge to their strife of blood!'' ``And how then win your own, boy, Though pure and high your quarrel stands, From their stern hearts of stone, boy, And from their griping iron hands?'' ``A battle still must win it! A battle, mother, they shall rue, Although no blood flow in it, To make the widow childless too!''