Big Fellah

Mo chara is mo lao thu!
 (My friend and my calf)
 Is aisling tri nallaibh
 (A vision in dream)
 Do deineadh arir dom
 (Was revealed to me last night)
 IgCorcaigh go danach
 (In Cork, a late hour)
 Ar leaba im aonar
 (In my solitary bed)
 I remember you back in the GPO with Connolly and Clarke
 Laughin' with McDermott through the bullets and the sparks
 Always with the smart remark, your eyes blazin' and blue
 But when we needed confidence we always turned to you
 And when they shot our leaders up against Kilmainham wall
 You were there beside us in that awful Easter dawn
 Hey, big fellah... where the hell are you now
 When we need you the most
 Hey, big fellah... c'mon
 Tabhair dom do lamh
 (Give me your hand)
 Back on the streets of Dublin when we fought the black and tans
 You were there beside us, a towerin' mighty man
 And God help the informer or the hated English spy
 By Jaysus, Mick, you'd crucify them without the blinkin' of an eye
 Still you had a heart as soft as the early mornin' dew
 Every widow, whore and orphan could always turn to you
 We beat them in the cities and we whipped them in the streets
 And the world hailed Michael Collins, our commander and our chief
 And they sent you off to London to negotiate a deal
 And to gain us a republic, united, boys, and real
 But the women and the drink, Mick, they must have got to you
 'Cause you came back with a country divided up in two
 We had to turn against you, Mick, there was nothin' we could do
 'Cause we couldn't betray the republic like Arthur Griffith and you
 We fought against each other, two brothers steeped in blood
 But I never doubted that your heart was broken in the flood
 And though we had to shoot you down in golden Bal na Blath
 I always knew that Ireland lost her greatest son of all