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REFUGEES

NICK BURBRIDGE

Friday, June 22nd, 2001

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Let us come to confess what we’ve done
We’ve been looking for a place where we belong
Beckoned by the glimmer of the sun
And following an old and bitter song –
But we trust in images of peace
Maybe only the fool can understand
Hoping for some moment of release
And building palaces of sand

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 But the dark hangs thick around our eyes
We’re children cast into the cold
Where teachers peddle empty lies
And our hunger is a passion to be sold –
We lose our voices in the night
And the brush lies heavy in our hand
Hiding from the soldiers out to fight
And trapped in our palaces of sand

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Ah but friend when there’s nothing left to lose
In the last black hours before the dawn
Then the seed takes root in the womb
And a life lies waiting to be born
The sun comes with a flush of rose
Lightening the contours of the land
Brightening the eyes that never close
And falling on palaces of sand

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 So let the dead bury the dead
Let the soldiers flood the battlefields
Let those teachers go burrow through their heads
For ours is a dream that will not yield –
We’ll turn here in a dance of peace
Leading our children by the hand
Holding the moment of release
And building palaces of sand
Building palaces of sand

© NICK BURBRIDGE 1989 MCdERMOTT’S tWO hOURS

Notes

Contributed by Crispin- and not a football poem but a poignant reminder this week of man’s continuing in-humanity to his fellow man in this world…..Moved by Stuart’s offering i recalled a wonderful poem by Nick Burbridge – a good friend and one who i ‘m sure would not mind being included here…A totally under-rated yet highly respected
Irish/Brighton based Poet & Song-writer (ex-McDermott’s Two Hours) and one thto whom The Levellers(the band) atttribute much inspiration and thanks..he’s appeared with them on many occasions..this is his epitaph to Refugees the world over..wahtever bitter conditions they might find themselves..it appeared on The Enemy Within on Hag Records…stark imagery, sad and compelling but as true then as it was 12 years ago and probably 12000 years ago…who invented borders?

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/refugees/