The Blue Banner
W.F. Marshall
Marshall penned this stirring poem in 1912 during the time of the Third Home Rule crisis. He used much of the original Covenant imagery of 1638 as inspiration. At the time of writing the poem Marshall was assistant minister in First Ballymacarret Church in Paulett Avenue, off the Albertbridge Road. The poem famously appeared in the Northern Whig on the day the Covenant was signed –28th September 1912.
Firm leagued we face the future, tho’ the road be dark and steep
The road that leads to honour is the lonely road we keep
And though all the world forsake us, this is the course we hold
The course our fathers followed in the Cov’nant days of old.
We fain would look for comfort to the land from whence we came
Where still abide our kith and kin and clansmen of our name
Where lives were deemed of small account by valiant men and true
For Christ, His Crown, His Cov’nant and the war torn folds of blue.
Long years have been and faded since the old time banner waved
See! How it flashes once again ere dangers must be braved
The Cov’nant oath we now will swear that Britain may be told
We stand for faith and freedom and the memories of old.
For all they died for gladly in the homeland o’er the sea
For blood-won rights that still are ours as Ulsterborn and free
For the land we came to dwell in and the martyr’s faith we hold
God grant we be as loyal to these as were men of old.
