I know this ageing Irish fellow Dan <br />His mother's father fought against the Black and Tan <br />By all accounts he was a noble man <br />And he is one still honoured by his clan. <br /> <br />In a shoot out with the Crown Forces he died <br />Caught in the open and with nowhere to hide <br />And though outnumbered thirty five to one <br />He would not surrender nor did he try to run. <br /> <br />His mother told him how her mother was in tears <br />And for her dead husband she grieved for years <br />But against the Tans she did not hold a grudge <br />She said that she was not to be their judge. <br /> <br />His mother knew life under British Rule <br />On the road she often passed the Tans on her way to and from school <br />But they never harmed her in any way <br />And some of them even smiled and said good day. <br /> <br />His mother said the tans were just young men <br />Fighting in a war they were not meant to win <br />And in ambushes around the countryside <br />Many soldier sons of British mothers died. <br /> <br />And when the British left Ireland the civil war began <br />And Irish man fought against Irish man <br />And even in her twilight years his mother did recall <br />That it was the bitterest battle of them all. <br /> <br />I know this ageing Irish fellow Dan <br />His grand dad fought against the Black and Tan <br />And he died like a true soldier under fire <br />And in his death the bards to song he did inspire.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-story-as-told-by-dan/
