When the Sixty-ninth Comes Back
 
The Sixty-ninth is on its way—France heard it long ago,
And the Germans know we’re coming, to give them blow for blow.
We’ve taken on the contract, and when the job is through
We’ll let them hear a Yankee cheer and an Irish ballad too.
 
   The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls shall fill the air with song,
   And the Shamrock be cheered as the port is neared by our triumphant throng.
   With the Potsdam Palace on a truck and the Kaiser in a sack,
   New York will be seen one Irish green when the Sixty-ninth comes hack.
 
We brought back from the Border our Flag—’twas never lost;
We left behind the land we love, the stormy sea we crossed.
We heard the cry of Belgium, and France the free and fair,
For where there’s work for fighting-men, the Sixty-ninth is there.
 
   The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls shall fill the air with song,
   And the Shamrock be cheered as the port is neared by our triumphant throng.
   With the Potsdam Palace on a truck and the Kaiser in a sack,
   New York will be seen one Irish green when the Sixty-ninth comes back.
 
The men who fought at Marye’s Heights will aid us from the sky,
They showed the world at Fredericksburg how Irish soldiers die.
At Blackburn Ford they think of us, Atlanta and Bull Run;
There are many silver rings on the old flagstaff but there’s room for another one.
 
   The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls shall fill the air with song,
   And the Shamrock be cheered as the port is neared by our triumphant throng.
   With the Potsdam Palace on a truck and the Kaiser in a sack,
   New York will be seen one Irish green when the Sixty-ninth comes back.
 
God rest our valiant leaders dead, whom we cannot forget;
They’ll see the Fighting Irish are the Fighting Irish yet.
While Ryan, Roe, and Corcoran on History’s pages shine,
A wreath of laurel and shamrock waits the head of Colonel Hine.
 
   The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls shall fill the air with song,
   And the Shamrock be cheered as the port is neared by our triumphant throng.
   With the Potsdam Palace on a truck and the Kaiser in a sack,
   New York will be seen one Irish green when the Sixty-ninth comes back.


Webpage © 2001 ELC
Lane Core Jr. (lane@elcore.net)
http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/KilmerJ/KilmerJ04.html
Created March 30, 2001; not revised.