They knelt around the cross divine
The matron and the maid
They bowed before redemption's sign
And fervently they prayed
Three hundred fair and helpless ones
Whose crime was this alone
Their valiant husbands, sires and sons
Had battled for their own
Had battled bravely but in vain
The Saxon won the fight
The Irish corpses strewed the plain
Where valour slept with right
And now that man of demon guilt
To fated Wexford flew
The red blood reeking on his hilt
Of hearts to Erin true
He found them there, the young, the old
The maiden and the wife
Their guardians brave in death were called
Who dead fought them the strife
They prayed for mercy, God on high,
Before Thy cross they prayed
But ruthless Cromwell bade them die
To glut the Saxon blade
Three hundred fell, the stifled prayer
Was quenched in women's blood
Nor youth nor age could move to spare
From slaughter's crimson flood
But nations keep a stern account
Of deeds that tyrants do
And guiltless blood to Heaven will mount
And Heaven avenge it too.
The matron and the maid
They bowed before redemption's sign
And fervently they prayed
Three hundred fair and helpless ones
Whose crime was this alone
Their valiant husbands, sires and sons
Had battled for their own
Had battled bravely but in vain
The Saxon won the fight
The Irish corpses strewed the plain
Where valour slept with right
And now that man of demon guilt
To fated Wexford flew
The red blood reeking on his hilt
Of hearts to Erin true
He found them there, the young, the old
The maiden and the wife
Their guardians brave in death were called
Who dead fought them the strife
They prayed for mercy, God on high,
Before Thy cross they prayed
But ruthless Cromwell bade them die
To glut the Saxon blade
Three hundred fell, the stifled prayer
Was quenched in women's blood
Nor youth nor age could move to spare
From slaughter's crimson flood
But nations keep a stern account
Of deeds that tyrants do
And guiltless blood to Heaven will mount
And Heaven avenge it too.