The Other Side - Christy Moore

Where John paints in Caribbean colours

And Tyrone boys dream of loving on the strand

Flowers heaped in gesture on the courthouse steps in Kerry

And we trampled on the outstretched hand

Roman posters on the wall outside the graveyard

«No Divorce» is all they say

I saw a little sister of Mercy

Invoke the wrath of God on polling day

Oh the Island, where Tyrone boys dream of loving on the strand

Oh the Island, where we trampled on the outstretched hand

The lady sends squaddies on the water

Geordie don’t be afraid to die

In blackened face he dreams of his darling bairns and hinny

On the watchtower overlooking aughnacloy

In Long Kesh the Tyrone Boys are dreaming

Of making love upon the strand some day

On the news came a mid-Atlantic accent

Plastic bullet has taken Julie Livingstone away

The King he came to see his people

And he took a soldier by the hand

Eyes averted from the Gloucester Diamond

To comfort those who occupy the land

High above the clouds a promised heaven

On the street a confused and homeless child

While men in black declare a social order

Frightened women sail to the other side

All the young ones are leaving the Island

Out the door, down the steps, around the side

Unwanted they file through departure lounges

Like deportees dispersing far and wide

In the distance there’s cricket in Cloughjordan

The gentle clack of croquet on the lawn

As our children shackled by illegal status

Hold their heads down behind the Brooklyn wall