THE YOUNG WOMAN FROM IRELAND

Words: John Arden
Music: Jolyon Jackson

I was walking out
Upon this rainy day
A half-blind gay young woman
Came agreeably in my way

She travelled out of Ireland
Into England to live
To blink for a young Englishman
And her affection to give

'Oh I have had sorrows
I have had grief
So many men's sorrows
As the dew falls on the leaf

So many said they loved me
With words at my ears
Like needles of sharp ivory
They scraped me with their beards

So many said they loved me
And I blinked at them again
But all that they did for me
The wind does for the rain'

We were in Trafalgar Square
Where the rain was blowm to hail
Lord Nelson's eye was filled with feathers
From every pigeon's tail

'I can half-see you, you young Englishman
And naked shall you stand
Between my white bosom
With your hand in my hand

If you want I can then clothe you
In red and in white
Your eyes in my bedroom
Shall be all I need for light'

Her eyes being weak and watery
She took liberty to use mine
She said, 'Where I could see three tall chimneys
Now I can see nine'

The eyes she borrowed from me
She returned to me once more
And I see a whole great waterscape
I never saw before

So I am rowing out today
On this rainy windy lake
That throws my boat so up and down
I am sure my oars will break.