REFUGEE
As recorded by James Keelaghan on “Timelines” (1992)

I will write you one last time; you will be here in the morning.
I imagine that you're sleeping on the North Atlantic swell.
There's a wind in off the sea, enough to keep me waking,
Enough to make me think we will say no more farewell.

All the words that pass between us, a line of pale blue letters
Stretching from the Sambro lighthouse to the waves around Land’s End,
Now you're following that line enveloped by the darkness.
You'll find me waiting when you reach its end.

CHORUS: All the ones who ran from war, all the wealthy and the wounded
That have landed on this shore, they don't mean a thing to me.
All that matters is the one who will be with me tomorrow.
It's a lonely heart that loves the refugee.

You have left behind your home; I have left behind my family.
We have come here to this shore with the strength to start anew.
There's a world here for the taking, a safe and steady harbour.
There's a million things to think of, but tonight I'll think of you.

Well, it's immigrants we are; this land has known no other.
There's a million came before us; a million more will follow on,
An endless wave washing upon this rocky coastline,
Carving features in the landscape, fanning out and moving on. CHORUS

Tomorrow morning, you'll look out; you will see this lovely coastline.
From Mitchell Bay to Prospect, it will seem like open arms,
And those arms they will enfold you, sweep you safe into the harbour,
Deliver you from loneliness and harm.

Tomorrow morning, I will climb upon the hill above the harbour.
I will look out to the East to where the heaven meets the sea,
And when the ship has come in sight, I will run down to the dockside
And welcome here just one more refugee. CHORUS

- - -
[Land’s End is in Cornwall, the westernmost tip of England. Sambro Lighthouse, Mitchell Bay and Prospect are all near Halifax, Nova Scotia.]