[Verse 1]
Children's laughter, children’s tears
Childish joys of childhood years
All just memories of our once happy home
It's not death that brings the pain
I would face it all again
But it grieves me so to leave you all alone

[Chorus]
Do the wee ones still sigh
When they hear their daddy's name?
Do they sadly ask you why I won’t be home again?
How hard it is to know I'll never see them grow
Let my dying bring for them a better land

[Verse 2]
May they never know the fears
That blighted my young years
Of thе shackles that have bound my native land
May thеy see the joy of life
And not cruel civil strife
Foreign laws imposed by brutal stranger's hands

[Chorus]
Do the wee ones still sigh
When they hear their daddy's name?
Do they sadly ask you why I won't be home again?
How hard it is to know I'll never see them grow
Let my dying bring for them a better land
[Verse 3]
Let them grow in love and truth
Let them blossom into youth
Guided by their mother's loving hand
Let them cherish Ireland's pride
For this Joe McDonnell died
Let them know their father loved them and his land

[Chorus]
Do the wee ones still sigh
When they hear their daddy’s name?
Do they sadly ask you why I won’t be home again?
How hard it is to know I'll never see them grow
Let my dying bring for them a better land

Let them know their father loved them and his land