The Foggy Dew

by **Madra Rua** Fri Aug 13, 2010 1:48 pm

As down the glen one Easter morn, to a city fair rode I
There armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by
No pipe did hum, no battle drum did sound its loud tattoo
But the Angelus Bell o'er the Liffey's swell rang out through the foggy dew

Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-El-Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew

'Twas England bade our wild geese go, that "small nations might be free";
Their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves or the fringe of the great North Sea.
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought with Cathal Brugha {sometimes “Valera true”}
Their graves we'd keep where the Fenians sleep, 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew.

Oh the night fell black, and the rifles' crack made perfidious Albion reel
In the leaden rain, seven tongues of flame did shine o'er the lines of steel
By each shining blade a prayer was said, that to Ireland her sons be true
But when morning broke, still the war flag shook out its folds in the foggy dew

Oh the bravest fell, and the Requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the spring time of the year
The world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few,
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew

As back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go and I kneel and pray for you,
For slavery fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew.

One of the things I love best about Irish song is that it continues the oral tradition of history keeping. This song was written by Canon Charles O’ Neill, a parish priest in Co. Down. In 1919, he went to Dublin and attended a sitting of the first Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament). O’Neill was moved by the number of members whose names were answered during roll call by "faoi ghlas ag na Gallaibh " (imprisoned by the foreigners), and resolved to write a song in commemoration of the Easter Rebellion.

The tune is traditional, taken by Father O'Neill from a popular love song of the day, "Moorlough Shore".

The Foggy Dew is a story of the Easter Uprising of 1916, encouraging Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British, as so many young men were doing in World War I.

One of the bloodiest battles of World War I began in April of 1915 in Turkey at Gallipoli and was still going on in January 1916, just months before the Easter Uprising. “Suvla” (Suvla Bay) and “Sud-El-Bar” (a corruption of Sedd-el-Bahr) are locations of very heavy troop casualties. More than 35,000 Irishmen died fighting for Britain in World War I. I visited Gallipoli about a year ago, and to this day there are row upon row of well tended graves dating from that battle. (As a side note: The thousands who did survive and came home found a country in violent upheaval, fiercely fighting its own civil war.

Many of these soldiers were victimized either physically or economically. Between 1919 and 1922, at least 200 were murdered because they had joined the British army. Economically, the 1919 unemployment ratio of ex-servicemen was 46% in Ireland compared to just 10% in Britain.)

Notes on a few other phrases:

Fenians:

The Fenians were a group established in the mid 1850s, dedicated to the founding of an independent Irish Republic. They were not averse to violent methods. The name "Fenians" comes from “Fianna”, the legendary band of Irish warriors led by Fionn mac Cumhaill.

wild geese:

This dates from the Battle of the Boyne. After Patrick Sarsfield lost Limerick City to William of Orange, William banished him, and 10,000 of his men, to France, where they served the French Crown as “The Irish Brigade”. It was called The Flight of the Wild Geese. The term "Wild Geese" came to refer to the hundreds of thousand Irishmen who left to serve in continental European armies throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

perfidious Albion: Faithless England.

Albion is the ancient Greek word for Britain.