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                                  The Dunes

                          By Shane MacGowan (1995)

                   I walked today on the cold grey shore
                  where I watched when I was much younger
                  while they built the dunes upon the sand
                     for the dead from the Great Hunger
                    for the dead from the Great Hunger.

                       Although I was a doctor's son
                         I gazed in fear and wonder
                  as they perished from the raging plague
                     that came in from the Great Hunger
                    that came in from the Great Hunger.

                     When I watched at the age of four
                          in Eighteen Forty Seven
                   the mounds they built upon the shore.
                       They seemed to point to heaven
                      they seemed to point to heaven.

              But the wind and the rain they have worked away.
                          Now the dunes are uneven
                   and the children kick the sand around
                    and the bones they are revealed then
                   and the bones they are revealed then.

                       My brothers and sisters died.
                       My mother only four and twenty
                        and I alone survived to see
                        the potatoes grow in plenty
                        the potatoes grow in plenty.

                  They stole our grain as we died in pain
                         to put upon their tables.
                    The dying covered the dead with sand
                      and danced while they were able
                      and danced while they were able.

                  While the fiddler played we drank poitin
                      and ate the last of the berries.
                       Then knelt and said the rosary
                    round the mounds of dead we'd buried
                   round the mounds of dead we'd buried.

                  I saw dark shadows rise up from the sand
                       and dance all around the dunes
               and they danced the rattling dance of the dead
                         to a set of mournful tunes
                        to a set of mournful tunes.
                    A crack of lightening split the sky.
                      The rain on the dunes it poured.
                  I left them lying where I shot them down
                       the bailiff and the landlord.
                    Then I went for a drink in Westport.

                   I walked today on the cold grey shore
                  where I watched when I was much younger
                  while they built the dunes upon the sand
                     for the dead from the Great Hunger
                    for the dead from the Great Hunger.

                  (Thanks to Jan Saghaug for the lyrics.)
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