Dreams and High Hopes   (Michael Rofkar)

I was seven years old when my parents were buried
Three years in a row the potato crop failed
There were six of us kids, only five could make passage
And I stood on the dock as the coffin ships sailed

I begged and I stole and I feed and I laboured
It took fifteen years to save up the fare
And after eight weeks when we reached New York harbour
There wasn't a statue to ease off my cares

As I stepped off the boat I was met by recruiters
You can be an American if you sign up today
I was fitted with cap and blue coat and rifle
With the Irish Brigades I was soon on my way

CHORUS:   Everything flows, yes and everything changes
Nothing's turned out as I thought it would then
Such dreams and high hopes when I came to the New World
Ah, but everything new just grows old again   

Bull Run and Bloody Lane, Sharpsburg and Fredricksburg
I'll never speak of the things that I've seen
One day in the woods I met a grey-coated rebel
I made ready to fire when he looked up at me

A voice that I knew said, Johnny don't shoot me
I lowered my rifle and peered through the rain
My childhood best friend from the hedge school in Mayo
I never did dream I'd see that face again

I said Kieran, my god, I nearly killed you
This war is a madness, this isn't our fight
He buried his grey coat, I buried my blue one
And we both deserted that very same night   

CHORUS

Tumbledown cabin on Grandfather Mountain
We were hunting by night and hiding by day
And when the war ended I met a girl there
But the West called to Kieran and he went on his way

I married my Polly on Grandfather Mountain
We never had children, now that seems sad
But she was my delight, and I cherish the memory
Of the laughter and love and the times that we had   

CHORUS


Lyrics copyright by Michael Rofkar. Published by Kudzu Tunes