My song for you this evening is not to make you sad<\/p>\n
Nor for adding to the sorrows of this troubled Northern land<\/p>\n
But lately I\u2019ve been thinking and it just won\u2019t leave my mind<\/p>\n
To tell you about two friends one time who were both good friends of mine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alan Bell from Benagh, he lived just across the fields<\/p>\n
A great man for the music and the dancing and the reels<\/p>\n
O\u2019Malley came from South Armagh to court young Alice fair<\/p>\n
And we\u2019d often meet on the Ryan Road and the laughter filled the air.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Though Alan he was Protestant, and Se\u00e1n was Catholic born<\/p>\n
It never made a difference for the friendship it was strong<\/p>\n
And sometimes in the evenings when we heard the sound of drums<\/p>\n
We said \u201cIt won\u2019t divide us, we will always be the one.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For the ground our fathers plowed on, the soil it is the same<\/p>\n
And the places where we say our prayers have just got different names<\/p>\n
We talked about the friends who died and we hoped there\u2019d be no more<\/p>\n
It\u2019s little then we realized the tragedy in store.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was on a Sunday morning when the awful news came round<\/p>\n
Another killing has been done just outside Newry town<\/p>\n
We knew that Alan danced up there, we knew he liked the band<\/p>\n
But when we heard that he was dead, we just could not understand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We gathered at the graveside on that cold and rainy day<\/p>\n
And the minister he closed his eyes and he prayed for no revenge<\/p>\n
And all the ones who knew him from along the Ryan Road<\/p>\n
They bowed their heads and said a prayer for the resting of his soul.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well, fear it filled the countryside, there was fear in every home<\/p>\n
When the car of death came prowling round the lonely Ryan Road<\/p>\n
A Catholic would be killed tonight to even up the score<\/p>\n
Oh Christ, it\u2019s young O\u2019Malley that they\u2019ve taken from the door.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAlan was my friend!\u201d he cried, he begged them with his fears<\/p>\n
But centuries of hatred have ears that cannot hear<\/p>\n
An eye for an eye, was all that filled their mind<\/p>\n
And another eye for another eye, till everyone is blind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now my song for you this evening is not to make you sad<\/p>\n
Nor for adding to the sorrows of this troubled Northern land<\/p>\n
But lately I\u2019ve been thinking and it just won\u2019t leave my mind<\/p>\n
To tell you about two friends one time who were both good friends of mine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know where the moral is, or where the song should end<\/p>\n
But I wonder just how many wars are fought between good friends<\/p>\n
And those who give the orders are not the ones to die<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Bell, and O\u2019Malley, and the likes of you and I.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were roses, roses, there were roses<\/p>\n
And the tears of the people ran together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My song for you this evening is not to make you sad Nor for adding to the sorrows of this troubled Northern land But lately I\u2019ve been thinking and it just won\u2019t leave my mind To tell you about two… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"parent":24,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}