The Lonesome Boatman
In the middle of the sleeping lake
The Lonesome boatman dwells,
Around him rise the bracken hills
The dreamy glens and dells.
The skies are red and rolling
Tinted in the twilight’s velvet hue
The ragged scarecrow peers in relief
To where the crackling crows have flown.
The lonesome boatman doesn’t move
His clothes are old and worn
Oh, lonesome boatman reveal to me why,
Why you look forlorn.
Is it life’s sorrows
Or a forgotten memory that you have found
Or do you listen to the wind
For the boatmen you’ve seen drown?
Oh, lonesome boatman, there’s a gleaming star
High above your head.
The waters glisten in the dusk
Are they tears that you have shed?
Oh, lonesome boatman, the birds are here,
The morning shadows fall.
Oh, friends, why must you be
But a dying shadow on my lonely cell wall.
Sad Song For Susan
I’m sitting at the window, I’m looking down the street
I am watching for your face, I’m listening for your feet.
Outside the wind is blowing and it’s just begun to rain,
And it’s being here without you that’s causing me such pain.
My mind’s wandering back again, to when you were here
And I wish I had you now, I wish that you were near.
I remember the winter nights when you warned me from the cold
And in the spring when we walked through green fields and skies of gold.
You’re gone, you’re gone, but you’ll live on in my memory.
In summer we played with the kids and you brought us young Jane,
But now - now it’s lonely and cold and it’s winter once again.
It’s dark now, I see, the stars are out way up in the sky,
And oh! how they remind me of the sparkle in your eye.
I’m lonely, yes, I’m lonelier than the cold wind that blows,
Are you happy, are you all right? I suppose God only knows.
And darling all the people are going to bed and the kids are crying for you
- How can I tell them you’re dead?
You’re gone, you’re gone but you’ll live on in my memory,
You’re gone, you’re gone but you’ll live on in my memory.
The Lonesome boatman dwells,
Around him rise the bracken hills
The dreamy glens and dells.
The skies are red and rolling
Tinted in the twilight’s velvet hue
The ragged scarecrow peers in relief
To where the crackling crows have flown.
The lonesome boatman doesn’t move
His clothes are old and worn
Oh, lonesome boatman reveal to me why,
Why you look forlorn.
Is it life’s sorrows
Or a forgotten memory that you have found
Or do you listen to the wind
For the boatmen you’ve seen drown?
Oh, lonesome boatman, there’s a gleaming star
High above your head.
The waters glisten in the dusk
Are they tears that you have shed?
Oh, lonesome boatman, the birds are here,
The morning shadows fall.
Oh, friends, why must you be
But a dying shadow on my lonely cell wall.
Sad Song For Susan
I’m sitting at the window, I’m looking down the street
I am watching for your face, I’m listening for your feet.
Outside the wind is blowing and it’s just begun to rain,
And it’s being here without you that’s causing me such pain.
My mind’s wandering back again, to when you were here
And I wish I had you now, I wish that you were near.
I remember the winter nights when you warned me from the cold
And in the spring when we walked through green fields and skies of gold.
You’re gone, you’re gone, but you’ll live on in my memory.
In summer we played with the kids and you brought us young Jane,
But now - now it’s lonely and cold and it’s winter once again.
It’s dark now, I see, the stars are out way up in the sky,
And oh! how they remind me of the sparkle in your eye.
I’m lonely, yes, I’m lonelier than the cold wind that blows,
Are you happy, are you all right? I suppose God only knows.
And darling all the people are going to bed and the kids are crying for you
- How can I tell them you’re dead?
You’re gone, you’re gone but you’ll live on in my memory,
You’re gone, you’re gone but you’ll live on in my memory.
(Brendan McFarlane, commanding officer of IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks, and Bobby Sands set this poem to music which is available on CD)