June Tabor - The Irish Girl lyrics

I walked on a northern shore Where the sandywort sped on before the ocean's blast The gra** ran like lemmings for the dune's high edge And I thought it meant like the gra** We bend in the driving gale And scarcely paused to think what makes the wind so strong Or if there's a refuge from the driver's flag But then I heard the saddest song Of the Irish Girl The Irish Girl Her eyes through a sparkling red Like raindrops on a laurel when the moon appears She sang of her sorrow through the stinging spread And through the sweeter brine, the salt of tears, I weep for the lost of a love Who's gone brooding now and silent as a standing stone Two sides of a coin we rolled a battered roll But in time he chose to leave alone His Irish Girl His Irish Girl I touched her and spoke my name For it seems she didn't know me for the song she sang She said, oh I know your face but here's the shame For though I knew the boy, who knows the man And I wept who might turn for the fool Who never saw the joys that make a blind man smile Seeking his fortune while the brightest j**el Was within his reach all the while The Irish Girl His Irish Girl