1849 - The Elders

They traveled across the angry sea in 1849

With all that they could carry

They traveled sick they traveled blind

Their home the starving island just a photo in their mind

They buried the dead at sea, winter 1849

The captain was a sailing man respected in his time

He’d made the journey twice before and almost lost his life

The hardest part was choosing who would sail and who would die

Left stranded with the hunger of 1849

They left behind the clans who’d been together a thousand years

With music and the memories ringing in their ears

They brought with them tradition and the will to work and die

In the land known for freedom, soil and sky

The memories of the loved ones, who were swallowed by the sea

Handed down from father to son along with a rosary

One black bead for every soul forever lost in time

Who never heard the New Year’s bell of 1849

They left behind the clans who’d been together a thousand years

With music and the memories ringing in their ears

They brought with them tradition and the will to work and die

In the land known for freedom, soil and sky

His name was Patrick Mulligan his eyes were steely blue

He lost his wife to famine and a younger son too

I know we’ll be united in the Lord’s good time

And hear the tales of family in 1849

They left behind the clans who’d been together a thousand years

With music and the memories ringing in their ears

They brought with them tradition and the will to work and die

In the land known for freedom, soil and sky