kids wear white garters and smell like their mothers whose husbands and fathers alike drink black beer in the same public houses smelling of smoke and strong whiskey mammies and daddies skipping ropes lectures from priests living in hope that theyve not mistaken the brand of their coats theyve paid for by spiritual teachings a busy year this streets running red how many sent to their nuptial bed how many sent home to a winter of graves how many wait in for the slaughter oh oh the holy ground cad mle failte theres saints and theres scholars to see oh oh the holy ground faraway hills aint as green as they once used to be its easter again and we cannot forget our brothers and sisters and all that was said so practise your pipes stand proud in the wet for the eyes of the world are upon you god in his mercy has given us men to lead us to peace but they cant bring an end to the profits that pay off the lease on the land were still sending them over the water seventeen years kelly is a man who stands on the street with a gun in his hand hes protecting the pipers that play in the band while the enemy waits with an army  dia le hireann suckle the empire dia le hireann suffer the loss of the green and the blue while the media feeds on the blood and the pain and the hatred father walks home on a colourless night the organisation has blinded his sight his wife and his kids are sleeping tonight in the arms of sweet jesus and mary 