The Islands

If it’s all so far behind me why does it seem like yesterday

The lark in the morning, your auld lad tossin’ hay

The ferry in the harbor dancing jigs upon the waves

The day I turned my back on you and the islands

Seven years I stayed away though I wrote from time to time

Down all those dancing days your eyes haunted me

But Bainbridge was the sweetest whore, took care of my demands

Bade me turn my back on you and the islands

I brought you petticoats of silk, a diamond from the Deuce

No price too steep to pay for your commitment

To lie once more beside you and to roll you in my arms

That’s why I came back home to you and the islands

No smoke from your chimney

Your yard was choked with grass

They said you’d upped and gone to the mainland

One mentioned that you’d met someone

Now lived in Dublin town

Grown tired of haunting dreams on the islands

Now it’s all so far behind me but it seems like yesterday

The lark has quit the heavens, no one bothers savin’ hay

I am a tourist in my hometown, an acquaintance once a friend

Since I turned my back on you and the islands