My song for you this evening   Is not to make you sad   Nor for adding to the sorrows   Of our troubled northern land   But lately I've been thinking   And it just wont leave my mind   I'll tell you of two friends one time   Who were both good friends of mine      Isaac he was Protestant   And Sean was Catholic born   But it never made a difference   For the friendship it was strong   And sometimes in the evening   When we heard the sound of drums   They said it won't divide us   We will always be as one      There were roses, roses   There were roses   And the tears of a people ran together      It was on a Sunday morning   When the awful news came round   Another killing had been done   Just outside Newry Town   We knew that Isaac danced up there   We knew he liked the band   But when we heard that he was dead   We just could not understand      Now fear it filled the countryside   There was fear in every home   When late at night a car came   Prowling round the Ryan Road   A Catholic would be killed tonight   To even up the score   Oh Christ, it's young MacDonald   They have taken from the door      There were roses, roses   There were roses   And the tears of a people ran together      I don't know where the moral is   Or where the song should end   But I wonder just how many wars   Were fought between good friends   And those who give the orders   Are not the ones to die   It's Scott and young MacDonald   And the likes of you and I      There were roses, roses   There were roses   And the tears of a people ran together      There were roses, roses   Roses   And the tears of a people ran together