Eric Bogle

Eric Bogle - THE SIGN lyrics

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"The Sign"<br />

-Eric Bogle<br />

<br />

In the summer of last year, in a city* far from here<br />

That stands on the shores of the fair Pacific sea<br />

I walked it's pleasant streets, no view in mind, no one to meet<br />

Content to wander where my aimless feet led me<br />

<br />

A few streets from my hotel, I passed an old stone wall<br />

Where three words had been scrawled by an unknown hand<br />

When I read them I stopped dead, in disbelief I shook my head<br />

For the words on that wall read, "Free Bobby Sands"<br />

<br />

As the sun began to fall, and the day began to die<br />

Thought I heard the wild geese call, from a dark and empty sky<br />

For long minutes I stood there, in that busy thoroughfare<br />

While the past rose sharp and clear in my mind's eye<br />

<br />

I saw it all again, the passion, hate, and pain<br />

The indifference and the shame as a young man died<br />

But it was all so long ago, and who now cares or knows<br />

Why Bobby Sands chose his lonely death?<br />

<br />

But to the one who wrote that sign,<br />

It seems that Bobby's light still shines<br />

The words rang from another time,<br />

But the paint was fresh<br />

<br />

As the sun began to fall, and the day began to die<br />

Thought I heard the wild geese call, from a dark and empty sky<br />

So I went down to the sea, to let it's wild song comfort me<br />

But my thoughts would not let me be, and unchecked they ran<br />

<br />

Through my future, present, and past,<br />

Not for the first time nor the last<br />

I heard them ask, "Could you be the kind of man<br />

Who would gladly sacrifice everything, even life<br />

And put no price on a cause, or an ideal?"<br />

No answer echoed in my heart, so I turned and I walked back<br />

Through the twilight's deepening dark, to my hotel.<br />

<br />

****************<br />

Historical Note:<br />

Bobby Sands, MP, was imprisoned in 1981 under criminal charges<br />

Stemming from his alleged involvement in IRA terrorist activities<br />

In Ulster Province (Northern Ireland). Mr. Sands, along with<br />

20 other alleged IRA members in prison awaiting trial, went<br />

On a hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions in the prison, and to<br />

Have the IRA members reclassified as "political prisoners".<br />

The hunger strike lasted more than 60 days, resulting in the deaths<br />

Of many of the prisoners, of which Mr. Sands was the first to succumb.<br />

<br />

*Auckland, New Zealand

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