GRACE • Jim McCann
As we gather in the chapel, here in old Kilmainham Gaol,
I think about these past few weeks, or will they say we failed?
From our school days, they have told us we must yearn for liberty
Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me.
Oh Grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They’ll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love, I’ll place this wedding ring upon your finger,
There won’t be time to share our love, for we must say goodbye
Now I know it’s hard for you my love to ever understand
The love I bear for these brave men, my love for this dear land
But when Padraic called me to his side, down in the G.P.O.
I had to leave my own sick bed, to him I had to go.
Oh Grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They’ll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love, I’ll place this wedding ring upon your finger,
There won’t be time to share our love, for we must say goodbye
Now as the dawn is breaking, my heart is breaking too
On this May morn as I walk out, my thoughts will be of you
And I’ll write some words upon the wall so everyone will know
I loved so much that I could see His Blood Upon The Rose
Oh Grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They’ll take me out at dawn now I must die
With all my love, I’ll place this wedding ring upon your finger,
There won’t be time to share our love, for we must say goodbye
Oh there won’t be time to share our love, for we must say goodbye
“Grace” – written by Frank & Sean O’Meara in 1985, named after Grace Gifford, wife of 1916 leader Joseph Plunkett