Lyrics

From a rebel’s veins my life I drew in rebel’s arms I lay
And rebel were the mother’s eyes that watched me night and day
I was rocked to rest on a rebel’s breast I was nursed on a rebel’s knee
God strengthen still through good or ill this rebel heart in me.

A rebel’s heart a rebel’s heart from the top of the triumph free
God strengthen still through good or ill this rebel heart in me.

I have read my country’s martyrs’ page I have sung her deathless songs
I have murmured truths from age to age I was born to right her wrongs
And when I saw that to ...’s laws she would never bend her knee
God strengthened still through good or ill this rebel heart in me.

My home’s amongst the Armagh hills where still some hearts are brave
And the murmuring of each streamlet there forbids me to live and slave
Those murmurs still my bosom fill till cold in my clay I will be
To either sink or seal to break or feel this rebel heart in me.

A rebel’s heart a rebel’s heart from the top of the triumph free
God strengthen still through good or ill this rebel heart in me.