He bid his love farewell
kissed his sleeping child
rode out into the cold night
He reached the field by dawn
where the Captain who’d assembled all the men of poverty bay said
We’ve made all our demands, yet all they do is sit there, reading the bible and singing the psalms
But they’re not the Israelites, the Babylon he speaks of was just those eastward islands
The crown must be the judge of who shall be a priest
and who shall be a prophet
and who’ll be granted deed to fields for the farming and forests for to fell
So today’s the day we ride, for God and king and country
You haven’t much to fear
By tonight
you’ll be home in the arms of your wives
with your children all sleeping in peace
for today you’ll secure their lives
and your dreams
Cross-legged on the beach
among the shells and baskets
the bounty of the seas
She heard the prophet preach
of exile and redemption
of a river and a foreign land
She’d been here in her dreams
the fantail through the window spoke of things unseen
With a shiver down her spine she saw horses on the hill
and a storm on the horizon
And she wept
for she knew well the folly of men
that the old ways would come to an end
and she knew they would not come again
so she wept
A pistol at his hip
a musket and a sabre
a blade as yet to drip
White knuckles on the reigns
the captain’s orders ringing
pulsing in his veins
Below him on the beach
she drew her baby closer
said child you must flee
Go by the forest and the stream
the mountain he will guide you
you mustn’t look to me anymore
And with the horses bearing down
the thunder of the future shaking in the ground
She stood staring on, he could see her calling
till she was screaming out
As she lay
and she lay
where she fell
And I swear that I
hear her crying out
I heard that mournful sigh
in the wind in the trees that night
She’s waiting for the time
when her prophet sends his sign
When her prophet sends his sign
credits
from Magpies,
released April 26, 2015
Electric guitars: Jonny Screech
Acoustic guitar: Emerson Yeoman
Bass: Gareth Bedford
Drums: Matt Hegan
Vocals: Emerson Yeoman
Keyboards: Aiden Fraser
Backing vocals: Natalie Yule-Yeoman
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