I know
these narrow northern streets
From
the photographs that you keep
Deep
beneath the boxes in the chest
With
scarves and shoes and that old wedding dress
Christmas
time you’d take them out to show
To
‘visitors’ just setting out to go
And
they’d stop and have one more for the road
And
Jameson’s and red and tears would flow
As I
look on with familiar strangers eyes
With
the gantries at our back I realise
And
Samson and Goliath gazing down
Just
how much you love this troubled town
The
snaps they show the streets and the parades
Where
Brillcream boys and children like you played
And
you and mammy promised to be true
Even
though you wore orange and she wore blue
So you
packed up to take the Dublin train
As
lovers often did and will again
Knapsack
and a suitcase tied with twine
The
first time that you’d ever crossed the Boyne
As I
look on with familiar strangers eyes
With
the gantries at our back I realise
And
Samson and Goliath gazing down
Just
how much you love this troubled town
August we would cross the
Boyne again
And
swap the southern sun for northern rain
You
told us that if things would settle down
One
day we’d all move back to Sailortown
But
even the best of families fade
Despite
the plans young lovers made
And
your children grew up far from your home
A
million miles from this troubled town
As I
look on with familiar strangers eyes
With
the gantries at our back I realise
And
Samson and Goliath gazing down
Just how much you love this troubled town
As I
look on with familiar strangers eyes
With
the gantries at our back I realise
And
Samson and Goliath gazing down
Just how much you love this troubled town