Eric Bogle - THE SIGN lyrics
rate me"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
