Come all you rebels and list while I sing,
For the love of one's country is a terrible thing,
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
And it makes us all part of the patriot game.

My name is O'Hanlon and I've just gone sixteen,
My home is in Monaghan where I was weaned,
I've learned all my life, cruel England to blame,
And so I'm a part of the patriot game.

It's barely two years since I wandered away,
With a local battalion of the bold IRA,
I'd read of our heroes and I wanted the same,
Just to play my own part in the patriot game.

This island of ours has for long been half free,
Six counties are under John Bull's tyranny,
So I gave up my boyhood to drill and to train,
And to play my own part in the patriot game.

And now as I lie here, my body all holes,
I think of those traitors who bargained and sold,
And I wish that my rifle had given the same,
To those quislings who sold out the patriot game.

So come all you rebels and list while I sing,
For the love of one's country is a terrible thing,
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
And it makes us all part of the patriot game.