John Keegan Casey

For one to love one's country ought not to be a sin
Yet he was one who suffered at the hands of brutal men
From beatings by his jailers at Mountjoy prison it has been said he died
And the great poet of the Fenians was mourned far and wide.

He never harmed anyone yet he was locked away
And for the penning of his rebel songs a huge price he had to pay
His song 'The rising of the moon' became Ireland's battle cry
A song that has lived for one hundred and forty years and perhaps will never die.

The Westmeath man John Keegan Casey a major Leinster poet
Unlike some other Fenians was not banished to Tasmania on board a convict boat
With his pen he might cause trouble in the southern country
So to lock him up in Mountjoy jail seemed a better idea.

He died in his twenty fourth year when he was in his prime
And Ireland lost a noble son a gifted man of rhyme
But The rising of the moon, Maire my girl and Donal Kenny to his greatness testify
And the beauty he created was not destined for to die.

In Thomas Davis newspaper The Nation John Keegan Casey made his name
And his immortal poems and ballads catapulted him to fame
And though to speak out against oppression should never be seen as a crime
He was born in the wrong land and he lived at the wrong time

He went to the reaper early and the life he knew was hard
But he will always be remembered as a famous Fenian bard
And though as a result of inhuman treatment he died at twenty four
The beauty he created will live on forever more.