CELTIC supporters have this season adopted the poignant ballad Grace as their new anthem and a world wide audience will hear around 55,000 Celtic fans sign this beautiful, sad song on Wednesday evening.
This love song was originally written by Frank and Sean O’Meara and tells the sad story of the wedding of Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising in Dublin and Grace Gifford his sweetheart,whom he married a few hours before his execution in Kilmainham Gaol.
Watch this remarkable video to hear the song and appreciate the wonderful animation of the wedding of Joseph and Grace.
The song used by permission of publishers Asdee Music and is performed beautifully by Donna Taggart.
Here are the lyrics to Grace for anyone still a little unsure of the words…
As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham Jail
I think about these past few weeks, oh will they say we’ve 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 place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won’t be time to share our love so we must say goodbye
Now I know it’s hard for you my love to ever understand
The love I bare for these brave men, the love for my dear land
But when Pádraic called me to his side down in the GPO
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 so 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 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 so we must say goodbye
No there won’t be time to share our love so we must say goodbye
*We trust that this song won’t offend anyone watching Celtic play Borussia in the Champions League.
