Alderney

Leaving
Two hours ’til take off take everything
Off with a bagful of my leaving
Fire in the mantle left flickering
Wardrobe with clothes all turned to stone

Coming
6,000 tourists in shackling
Scuff up the shingle for they’re coming
To slip on my slippers and petticoats
And fill all the pastures with their bone

Alderney, Remember me, I claim you as my home
Remember me, my Alderney, wherever I may roam,
Alderney

Sailing
Deckchairs and blankets and worrying
God knows to where they’ve got us sailing
Off to a village of prattling
A handful of bricks that aren’t my own

Alderney, Remember me, I claim you as my home
Remember me, my Alderney, wherever I may roam,
Alderney

And it’s dig and dig and dodge all the thunder
and battle the hunger and dig and dig
And heave and heave and slab on the concrete
and dance to the drum beat and breathe and breathe
And build and build and brick up the wish holes
and tot up the death tolls and build and build
And haul and haul and bar all the windows and look to the shadows
and fall and fall and fall…

Alderney, Remember me, I claim you as my home
Remember me, my Alderney, wherever I may roam,
Alderney

Alderney, cicatrice si joli, est-que vous vous rappeller?
Alderney, vous avez marqué ma vie, je ne vous oublierai jamais
Alderney

Coming
Take up the trumpets, we’re back again
To pick through the rubble of our leaving
What have they done to our everything?
Pastures and people turned to stone.

Leave a Reply