The Ship - Runrig

I awoke in the dusts of an autumn morning

Faces oil-lit and kneeling round the family chairs

I never knew that a heart could take such filling

Spaces everywhere

All the front doors opened and the men came walking

Suits and shoes, heads of silver and grey

It’s one short road from a darkened cradle

To the endless light of day

She walked like a bride down the aisle of her childhood

The shops, the schoolyard, the church on the hill

Where she trembled on the day she was touched and broken

Marie was born again

All ears to the trawler-band in the evenings

Forty crans and the spirits run wild

The storms.

the drownings.

the tables, the drinking

The sea had claimed their lives

There’s peat smoke rising from the village chimneys

You take your chances with the red haired girl

All the boats take their rest in the heart of the harbour

That night in a changing world

And the ship’s come round

And she’s waiting at the harbour

Be prepared to get on board

Be prepared

I never knew that- the light of ages

Breaks the way before us

Sail away, sail away