I Spent Hours Of My Young Years

I spent hours of my young years listening to grown men talking of the politics in Ireland's Dail
And of the then three major Irish political parties Fine Gael and Labour and Fianna Fail
As well as arguing about hurling and Gaelic Football
Though financially these things for their lives did nothing at all

I was too young then to find it a bit strange
That their political views never did seem to change
For the same political parties their mums and dads voted for they only would vote
To parental thinking their lives they did devote

So much time talking of men who for Ireland died brave
Our parents are ruling our lives from the grave
Few people can claim to have minds of their own
The ways of our conservative mentors few of us have outgrown

Around the fireside at night when i was a boy
Stories of men who fought and died for Irish freedom i used to enjoy
But of what true freedom entails they never talked about
That was left to myself for to later find out

It is a fact of life that is widely known
That the seeds of the wars of today in the distant past have been sown
By men who for God and for Country died brave
Our mentors are talking to us from the grave.