The Rock


There‘s a low rock wall
By the cliffs of Mohar
Runs from down on the ground
Right up through the sea air

As a child I would climb
To the top of those stairs
And wish on the fog
I was anywhere else

The farms and the valleys
Are ringed with the stones
Of the men who built walls
Sos to be more alone

All thats left of them now
Are their fears and their bones
But the rocks they put up
Were all I‘ve ever known

The rock fought my spirit
The rock fed my anger
The rock broke my heart
Like the waves of the sea

I tried hard to fight
But it still grew inside me
This island my Ireland
The rock is in me

Hard was the ground
In which this child grew
Unforgiving and cold
Was the home that I knew

But knowing the soil
Not harboured for you
Makes pulling up roots
That much easier to do

Set sail
Young pilgrims

Set sail
To a new land

Set sail
Our future
Is out there to find

The rock fought my spirit
The rock fed my anger
The rock broke my heart
Like the waves of the sea
I tried hard to fight
But it still grew inside me
This island my Ireland
The rock is in me

I tried hard to fight
But it still grew inside me
This island my Ireland
The rock is in me

Now it‘s been years
Since I‘ve been in that place
And the winds of my life
Have all weathered my face

But if only with distance
And the coming of grace
That I see in you beauty
I could never replace

The rock forged my spirit
The rock was my anchor
The rock held me fast
Through the storms of my youth

Now you‘ll never die
Cause you live on inside me
On Illinsha
Moharen fain