Ale 

This ale makes me poetic

Leaves me pale and pathetic

But pathetic is as the ale doles

Yet feels better than my better was

And I know who I expect to be

Will blind my present happiness

I believe in one true God

So there's always someone to blame

Still I question I can't help it

Such a dull life for a skeptic

If I hadn't a drink would life change in a blink

Ah to hell with that I feel like a king

A noble drunken effigy

Who bows down to no Majesty

And if you're like me, and like a pint and a sing

Then surely you'll drink with me

At Your Door 

As the boys lay brick on mortar

Break their backs to earn their porter

I walk the ground of my fallen mother

As I mumble “god love her, god love her”

The day has been long but the road longer

Through the valleys and along the sea

Before I make rest this passage will test me

But it won’t be long before I am at your door

On a rolling hill that never meets the tide

Where lay too many on my father’s side

There is a patch of my own dense thatch

Put away for me and mine

The day has been long but the road longer

Through the valleys and along the sea

Before I make rest this passage will test me

But it won’t be long before I am at your door

Trying times they seldom last

But one good kick and you’re on the grass

Face down and faithless

The day has been long but the road longer

Through the valleys and along the sea

Before I make rest this passage will test me

But it won’t be long before I am at your door

Awakening of Spring

I was but 12 years old and I was hardly tame

I saw her laying in the blue bells by the glade

A pair of gillies and her hair in Scottish braid

And all that troubled me was lost upon a gaze

She described our love a warm awakening of spring

As I recall it was a January's May

I saw the best in her worsen by the day

And caught the fallen truth that all things were gay

Now she won't speak with me she's clannish that way

But still I dream of her in the fondest way

She described our love a warm awakening of spring

As I recall it was a January's May

Now she won't speak to me she's clannish that way

But still I dream of her in the fondest way

Still I see her in the blue bells by the glade

Cape Breton Rose

When I left Iona

I kicked through the Marsh

I've been through more hell than this ship on my arm

When John David John told me what had took place

It kicked me in the guts and tied a knot in my face

Just past the trestle we barely get by on the boat

We toss out the anchor and all the girls take note

But I take note not to a girl but her

And she's tied up with that prick from the Pier

The b'ys say man you don't need no miss

But you're no man if you're womanless

I said then to the ferrymen at the crossing to the Narrows

That I could get the girl and then I crossed my heart and swore it.

You hang on to you're dandy-lioness and I'll give Cape Breton's Rose my best

It be his luck I hadn't a drop or fists would come 'tween I and he

But John David John had a couple two or three 

It's time and place to settle this

One look at him

Ah count me in

I didn't need no drop for that prick from the Pier

Now I never had fight like my brothers in tow

I built all my strength coming back on the bow

Come death or much worse

I gave her my best

And I'd do it again for my Cape Breton Rose

You hang on to you're dandy-lioness and I'll give Cape Breton's Rose my best

When I left Iona

I kicked through the Marsh

I've been through more hell than this ship on my arm

Fairy Cave 

The birds had sung my morn

Accompanied my touring

I came across a fairy cave

And one I fancied spotting

And three I did that eve

I spied upon them swimming

And I was feeling very brave

To join them for a swimming

When I was on my own I heard the pixie calling

We would hurry across the field to join the cave for folly

They followed me that eve

Skipped ahead and climbed the steed

Only they could tame the mare

They'd sing to her and braid her hair

When I was on my own I heard the pixie calling

We would hurry across the field to join the cave for folly

The birds had sung my morn

Accompanied my touring

I came across a fairy cave

And one I fancied spotting

When I was on my own I heard the pixie calling

We would hurry across the field to join the cave for folly

Glistening Hum 

Laying wide awake now

Oh how you’ve let my heart down

Love can rush a sunrise or stall the flux in tide

Where we once were together

The crows now come to gather

Chasing any sparrow, drowning out their carol

Gone are the days

All a memory to fade

And all I can say

It's the dawning of the day now

I'm better off here somehow

Life's raised in the downs

All while I'm numb with a glistening hum

Thoughts of you still wallow

Lost in mossy meadows

In the winters of my mind, I’m hulled by a dull wind in the doldrums

Gone are the days

All a memory to fade

And all I can say

It's the dawning of the day now

I'm better off here somehow

Life's raised in the downs

All while I'm numb with a glistening hum

Hymn After Hymn 

Night’s about morning

There’s a warm gale in the glen

And we’re just after meeting

Paired up in ones

Seeing double by the quarter

Can barely navigate without feeling

Clamped on by forearm

Not releasing ‘till next season

It was a lengthy intermission

Now the gale’s to my back

And I’ve a new life on the track

I’m fueled by poetry and porridge

I’m sinning straight six

Giving one day to the book

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn

I’m sideways in the pew

Purely here to entertain you

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn after hymn

Life’s getting hard again

Father John MacKinnon

He puts the pain in perspective

And we’ll stay on the piss

And leave the dining ‘till morning

I’ve got a story on the spin

Five thirty comes early

It’s already in the twenties

And I ain’t comin’ ‘round

I’m sinning straight six

Giving one day to the book

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn

I’m sideways in the pew

Purely here to entertain you

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn after hymn

In your rolling gown

I’m teary from your beauty

So lively were we

In the lovely days of when

It’s a shame, all the same

Forever darkness parts us

And your la dee di dow’s

They whisper in the glen

I’m sinning straight six

Giving one day to the book

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn

I’m sideways in the pew

Purely here to entertain you

Singing hymn after hymn after hymn after hymn

Hymn after hymn after hymn after hymn

Night’s about morning

There’s a warm gale in the glen

And we’re just after meeting

Maggie Of The Cove 

When I heard you were goin’ home, boy

I took to ship to flee

Set sail for land known for rock and for snow

In hope of family

But she took me to rue

And only to soon

Did I come to grasp what I've lost

Twas the crippling love

From Maggie of the cove

I'd been traveling for half the year

No need to bare an arm

Saw barren lands that were once corn fields

Upon her daddy's farm

I'd be lying I said if I told you

I believe in angles and goddesses too

It was on the farmhouse balcony

She was standing above - Ms Maggie of the cove

Now he saw me saw her

But I saw her saw me

And you'd never guess he could think of me less

Than my father thought of me

Just imagine him standing there if you could

Saying you're not but a Gaelic and Protestant kid

Much bigger than he was fearless

And such was my love for Maggie of the cove

Maggie, take a day off from the hayloft

To the old hall we’ll go

We’ll have a dance and get to know

Maggie, take a day off from the hayloft

Let’s give em all a show

How that girl could go

I was empty handed leaving there

And not for lack of charm

I could never guess she'd miss anyone less

Since I've left her daddy's farm

Now I'm back home and I’m thinkin’ of her

In a hay field far from here

It was on the farmhouse balcony

She was standing above - Ms Maggie of

And such was my love – For Maggie of

Twas the crippling love from Maggie of the cove

Moonlit 

It was on the first day of my hunt for leeway

The sun’s light eclipsing on the mountains

And although for some, an amphibious hum

For me the melody of the lilies

Just through the trees a light calling me

An encounter of familiar desires

I could've followed the mire

I could've drown in the fen

Lost in cimmerian shade

The path to you was moonlit

You offered my warm scotch and tea, no choice

And shared on our life's understandings

Before leaving the grounds, you watered my hounds

And told me I'd get to where I'm going in time

I sat 'neath a tree with a beard of spanish moss

Alone, yet surrounded all the same

Reminded of your words to always push against the rush

I'd get to where I'm going all in time

Poetry In Motion 

Sunny eve turns to rain and sours the day

Dewy rainbow, lemonade 

Fate assured as I go inside

Little did I know you'd be there

Petals white bloom on the jade

Cloaked in pink wool, Hudson's Bay

You sing Bonny Boy to me

Little did I know we'd be alright

And if anything we'd be up all night

Kindred feeling, like the moon and the tide

I was not what you were supposing

You were poetry in motion

How that night I shone on your brilliant side and together we were prose and rhyme

Until now, nothing kept the devil gone

I thought I'd been holding the shovel wrong

All that gained from a folk song

Little did I know I could feel that way

Some say they see it in the Totems eyes, others say they find it in Jesus Christ

Tonight I found it in your voice

I was not what you were supposing

You were poetry in motion

How that night I shone on your brilliant side and together we were prose and rhyme

And I would rather die than knowing

I lived out, without our moment

How that night I shone on our brilliant side and together we were prose and rhyme

Sand Dunes

 Taking and stealing is such a fine line

Yet possession of my mind you have again

I used to pray for time away from you love

Yet I can't forget that summer's eve we met

We walked along the shores at dusk your hand in mine

We watched a fire across the lake burn to the sand

If I only had the courage then, you'd be with me still

But my love of June we'll forever have the sand dunes

I packed my things and I caught the AM CN Rail

Oh how I wish I missed that train everyday hun

A lonesome ride to a lonesome life of lonesome meals

A life of starlight nights, dull moons and deep angst for June

So glad to see your hair, surprised the same blouse

Not surprised to wake up sweating all the booze out

Reality can take from me our future and our now

But my love of June we'll forever have the sand dunes

We walked along the shores at dusk your hand in mine

We watched a fire across the lake burn to the sand

Reality can take from me our future and our now

But my love of June we'll forever have the sand dunes

Sarah’s Whistling Tune 

By the time you've heard the story

By the time that you've heard the stor-ium it'll be old-io

As we were walking on

I and cousin Jon

I lost my way

But I guess that's what we knew

From the fog upon the dew

When I heard my mother Sarah's whistling tune

A fortune there will be

A fortune there will be

By the time you've heard the story

By the time that you've heard the stor-ium it'll be old-io

We decided to be heard

So I cupped my hands and yelled

Hi ya mother

Heyo granddad

Only as a vision could

Disappearing in the wood

How'd she know my mother Sarah's whistling tune

By the time you've heard the story

By the time that you've heard the stor-ium it'll be old-io

Out of breath and in our home

We had asked them where they both had roamed

And they replied

Mary Bell and Roy's all day

Well if not him then who he

And if not her then who she

To have know my mother Sarah's whistling tune

Only as a vision could disappearing in the wood

How'd she know my mother Sarah's whistling tune

Some say creatures bred of hell

Others, worlds of parallel

How'd she know my mother Sarah's whistling tune

I question where they'd gone

But never who I saw

And the whistling of my mother still haunts me

A fortune there will be

A fortune there will be

A fortune there will be

A fortune there will be

Shores of Bras D’Or 

The waves are crashing up the hill

And I, I have had my fill

For tonight the moon will not be still

And we'll be gone to a time no longer real

Reach an oaky top of tree

In from the cold with snow up to my knee

Put my boots on the stove and they will soon be warm

Those days are gone but a deal is still a deal

It gets cold down the cemetery road

it gets cold you only feel it when you know

They've given you lots of time

To fall into a line

Which you're coming to realize

Along the shores of Bras D'or's tide

Sonny

Sitting in gardens biting my tongue

Across from each other one, two and one

Sitting in gardens most of the time

It's time to go and I should know

I should draw the line

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

Sonny doesn't get to rave

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

Sonny doesn't get to rave

Sonny drags his bones all the way to the bar

But Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

He's walking out the door but he don't get far

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

The edge of the towns got wide open spaces

Top of the stairs got lonely embraces

His mother never should have let him go

It's time to go and I should know

I should draw the line

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

Sonny doesn't get to rave

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

Sonny doesn't get to rave

Sonny drags his bones all the way to the bar

But Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

He's walking out the door but he don't get far

Sonny doesn't get to rave no more

Sonny doesn’t get to rave

Upon The Horizon

Upon the horizon, where the orange meets the lake

To our destination, with a canteen compass and spade

Feels a million miles away

Up all night, I'll build a fire and we'll wade in water to the waist

Wrapped up in the heat, we're back on the beach

Watch the lake's crystals caper away

As I gather a pipe and doeskin

Cast a high on a misty morning

Up all night until the sun comes up on the day

Shelter the embers, keep the coals kindled for the eggs

When we're doing nothing, keep unhappiness at bay

For the millionth time today

Up all night, I'll build a fire and we'll wade in water to the waist

Wrapped up in the heat, we're back on the beach

Watch the lake's crystals caper away

As I gather a pipe and doeskin

Cast a high on a misty morning

Up all night until the sun comes up on the day

On me, on me, on me, the sun the sun the sun

Up all night, upon the horizon

Up all night, I'll build a fire and we'll wade in water to the waist

Wrapped up in the heat, we're back on the beach

Watch the lake's crystals caper away

As I gather a pipe and doeskin

Cast a high on a misty morning

Up all night until the sun comes up on the day

Writing A Letter (This Christmas) 

I remember the night

On a late December shore

Been so long

Tis the season of missing you more

That Christmas Eve I and the moon for you had both fallen

Now it's time to write you again

That there's snow for shovellin’

Lips red like the blueberry field

Skin fair as the snow that fell

I'll be writing a letter this Christmas

May it find you well

We were singing sleigh ride, stringing popcorn

By the fire all the while it snowing

As I dressed up the tree you wrapped gifts there for me

I saw Them without your knowing

I'll take kissing over gold

These gifts will get old

It's not them I’ll be missing

As the hush of the frost fills the night

I tear over this letter I write

Lips red like the blueberry field

Skin fair as the snow that fell

I'll be writing a letter this Christmas

May it find you well

I remember the night

On a late December shore

I adored you

As the carol rang first Noel

Lips red like the blueberry field

Skin fair as the snow that fell

I'll be writing a letter this Christmas

May it find you well