Banna Strand - The Wolfe Tones

'Twas on Good Friday morning

All in the month of May

A German ship was signalling

Beyond out in the bay

With twenty thousand rifles

All ready for to land

But no answering signals did come from

The lonely Banna Strand

No signal answers from the shore

Sir Roger sadly said

No comrades here to meet me

Alas, they must be dead

But I must do my duty

And at once I mean to land

So in a small boat pulled ashore

On the lonely Banna Strand

Now, the RIC were hunting for

Sir Roger high and low

They found him at McKenna’s Fort

Said they, «You are our foe»

Said he, «I'm Roger Casement

I came to my native land

I mean to free my countrymen

On the lonely Banna Strand»

They took Sir Roger prisoner

And sailed for London Town

And in the Tower they laid him

A traitor to the Crown

Said he, «I am no traitor»

But his trial he had to stand

For bringing German rifles to

The lonely Banna Strand

'Twas in an English prison that

They led him to his death

«I'm dying for my country»

He said with his last breath

They buried him in British soil

Far from his native land

And the wild waves sing his requiem

On the lonely Banna Strand

They took Sir Roger home again

In the year of Sixty-Five

And with his comrades of Sixteen

In peace and tranquil lies

His last fond wish, it is fulfilled

For to lie in his native land

And the waves will roll in peace again

On the lonely Banna Strand