Johnny's Irish Grandmother Poem by Francis Duggan

His Irish grandmother she told him of her childhood she grew up in the days of the Black and Tan
And her father was an Irish freedom fighter and by the British was a wanted man
She was fifteen when the civil war was raging when Irishmen against each other fought
A civil war that was caused by partition and death and sorrow to old Ireland brought.

She told of the deaths of Liam Lynch and Michael Collins heroic figures they were known World wide
But sadder still the British did not kill them by the guns of their own countrymen they died
Twenty five thousand died in the civil war in Ireland tragic victims of the bitter civil strife
And all because of those Six Northern counties it seemed a shameful waste of human life.

Johnny's Irish granny held her Irish accent and in her Irish heritage she had great pride
And all of her faculties she still had with her right up until the moment that she died
She had lived for sixty two years in Australia and despite that she still called Ireland home
One of the strongest feelings is nostalgia one of the strongest human feelings known.

Old Johnny is a good sort of a fellow and on his birthday he will be sixty two
And you might say he is a 'fair dinkum' Aussie and to the Australian colours he is true
But still he talks about his Irish granny she was a major influence in his life
And she told him of the Black and Tans in Ireland and the tragedy of Ireland's civil strife.