Convict Ways

From the bells in England’s prison cells
In ’67 one last time
They filled up a southbound floating jail
And on its fateful passage it set sail

And aboard that vessel too did go
Some sixty Fenian boys
They were loaded on the Hougoumont
And led out amidst the cry:

[Chorus]
“Farewell to all the convict ways
To being slaves without the name of slaves
Farewell to all the convict ways
They’ll be the last we’ll see in irons and chains”

And with them as they sped the wild waves o’er
Bringing poеtry and news
With their spirits overhеad did soar
A sage and wild goose

And when around that final coast they’d steer
Into famed Freemantle Bay
It’s reported that all souls on board
Heard the wild waves and the wild winds say:

[Chorus]
“Farewell to all the convict ways
To being slaves without the name of slaves
Farewell to all the convict ways
They’ll be the last we’ll see in irons and chains”

But when one among them did escape
That barren jailer’s land
Those behind him he did not forsake
Nor would rest until each one had been saved

For he knew all men inside must feel
That burning to be free
And when any languished in a cage
Not a single one of them could say:

[Chorus]
"Farewell to all the convict ways
To being slaves without the name of slaves
Farewell to all the convict ways
They’ll be the last we’ll see in irons and chains"

Someday the men of this crude world will know
As John Boyle O’Reilly knew
That no man is free when free alone
No man is free when alone
That one soul in chains is all in chains
That one soul enslaved is all enslaved
And that all mankind is in the few

And when all the life that they have seen
And one hundred thousand days
When all people of the world are free
And when children ask us what is free
When old men must ask us what are slaves
And when women ask us what are chains
When the wild, wild goose is old and grey
And the golden egg of freedom’s lain
That is when we all can truly say
Then and only then:

[Chorus]
“Farewell to all the convict ways
To being slaves without the name of slaves
Farewell to all the convict ways
And farewell to life in irons and chains
And farewell to life in irons and chains”