like chaff in the wind we were cast from aul shores as emigrants as exiles as convicts as slaves for hundreds of years ireland never saw peace from the land that they loved they were forced o er the seas as soldiers of fortune in the irish brigades all in regiments condemned to the wars and the graves the soldiers the sailors the wild geese and weavers the rebels the heroes the helpless the brave we are the irish all over the world my heart is with you may the road rise to meet you with god s hand to keep you from harm i will be with you always all the days till the sun and the moon and the stars in the sky cease to shine aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye oh they left their homes so eerie and still generations were forced from the land that they loved their commerce all stifled their industries run down by taxes and landlords and governments that ruled from wars and disease as religious refugees are fleeing the cruel penal laws and decrees the hollers of hunger has torn us asunder the young and the old are all scattered and gone we are the irish all over the world my heart is with you may the rise to meet you with god s hand to keep you from harm i will be with you always all the days till the sun and the moon and the stars in the sky cease to shine aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye