The stars of freedom light the skies,
Uncrowned queens of yesteryear,
They were born 'mid shades of royal hue',
From mystic wombs they did appear.
Silver gems that pierce the dark.
Heavenly virgins in disguise,
That stir the heart with love and flame,
And light great flames in all men's eyes.
Oh! star of beauty in nightly hue,
You have inspired bondsmen to kings,
And lit the ways of despairing  folk,
From dreams to living things.
In the seas of time you float serene,
Oh! silver stars of nations born,
And you draw a tear to free men's eyes,
Through dungeon bars forlorn.
Oh! star of Erin, queen of tears,
Black clouds have beset thy birth,
And your people die like morning stars,
That your light may grace the earth.
But this Celtic star will be born,
And ne'er by mystic means,
But by a nation sired  in freedom's light,
And not in ancient dreams.
BOBBY SANDS was twenty seven years old when he died on the sixty sixth day of hunger-strike in the H-Block prison hospital, Long Kesh, on the 5th May 1981. The young IRA Volunteer who had spent almost the last nine years of his short life in prison as a result of his Irish republican activities was, by the time of his death, world-famous having been elected to the british parliament and having withstood pressures, political and moral (including an emissary from Pope John Paul II) , for him to abandon his fast which was aimed at countering a criminalisation policy by the british government. His name became a household word in Ireland, and his sacrifice (as did that of those who followed him)  overturned british propaganda on Ireland and had a real effect in advancing the cause of Irish freedom.