the forgotten few

The Forgotten Few (To the tune of 'the foggy dew')

A welcome sight met my sorrow filled eyes
When contractors built as motorway in Meath
Rugged women and men their ways did blend
To end this greedy profit driven scheme
Out of the morning mist onto bulldozers
Clambered up this strong determined crew
With many shouts and cheers they passed me near
The lost and forgotten few

Who were these resolute women and men
Who came with many peaceful means
To Tara's Hills with indomitable will
'Gainst contracrors violent state machinery
That is ripping the heart out of Irish soil
'Till no Ireland will remain at all
My legs wet with dew I climbed up too
To join the lost forgotten few

From the mist and dew this resourceful crew
Came with whiffs of bacon, spliffs and brew
It seemed that rainbows fled when the diggers of dread
Trashed it large where pretty flowers once grew
In fields of lush green countryside
Sold out to a corporation cruel
What a waste what a mess it was that greeted the view
Of the sadly lost forgotten few

A motley bunch of many types
With veterans and young alike
From old Twyford Down and all places around
We came to Tara, mess we found
With a drink and a song up on the jib with arms locked on
Pitting body self and mind against machines
All to stop the road that is coming through
The not to be forgotten few

From Soldier's Hill to Collier's town
The rape of land is going on
With ancesters graves by diggers open splain
It greatly stirs the people's ire
When lies by government bodies leave
A trail of churned up meadows we do rue
The loss and at what cost to those fair flowers and moss
Come join the lost forgotten few

As the pockets of S.I.A.C. by misdeeds are filled
With the coins of the conned are lined
With a double toll when the cars do roll
What will complacent people find?
No Emerald Isle but a polluted pile
Of infra-structure of the petrol cult
As if Finn's return were now coming true
The lost now not forgotten few

Go back to the hill go back to the Skryne
Comes the call to all the gallant Na Fienna
Remember the ancient lives of those
Whom the modern world would have us forget
For with the memory of fairer ways
Comes the falling of the fat cats foul
And corrupt stench of roads built with motives oh so low
Is conquered by the glorious few

Written in the company of the few at Rath Lugh and Tara Hill in October 2007