[Verse]
How many more must die now, how many must we lose,
Before the island people their own destiny can choose?
From immortal Robert Emmet to Bobby Sands MP,
Who was given thirty thousand votes whilst in captivity,

Thomas Ashe gave everything in 1917,
The Lord Mayor of Cork MacSweeney died freedom to obtain,
Never one of all our dead died more courageously,
Than Bobby Sands from Twinbrook, the people's own MP.

[Chorus]
He was a poet and a soldier he died courageously,
And we gave him thirty thousand votes whilst in captivity.

[Verse]
No more he'll hear the lark's sweet notes upon the Ulster air,
Or gaze upon the snowflake pure to calm his deep despair,
But before he went on hunger strike young Bobby did compose,
'The Rhythm of Time', 'The Weeping Wind' and 'The Sleeping Rose'.

[Chorus]
He was a poet and a soldier he died courageously,
And we gave him thirty thousand votes whilst in captivity.

[Verse]
Forever we'll remember him that man who died in pain,
That his country north and south be united once again,
To mourn him is to organise and build a movement strong,
With ballot box and Armalite, with music and with song.

[Chorus]
He was a poet and a soldier he died courageously,
And we gave him thirty thousand votes whilst in captivity.

[Outro]
He was a poet and a soldier he died courageously,
And we gave him thirty thousand votes, the people's own MP.