Song for a Troller

Running down the channel, and out past the cape,
Chasing the night from the roaring shore;
Hills crowned in crimson framing your wake,
You follow a fading star.
You’ll drop your poles where the big sea rolls
In from the open hori-zon;
And then one more time, you’ll let out your lines
And trick smiley up over the side. And..

CHORUS:    Let the bells ring out,
And the girdies sing out,
Over waters that you know so well;
May the music they play fill up your day,
Send your trials away with the swells.

Now I hear you may tie up your boat and your dreams,
There’s less fishing time and more paying;
With strokes of their pens, the dry land captains
A whole way of life are betraying;
The troll fisherman has no place in their plan,
And a small town for them’s just a bother;
‘Seems that they heed big money and greed
When they decide who catches salmon, but… CHORUS:

But you’re part of this coast and you know ev’ry place,
By name and by sight and by story;
And few men know better the bright salmon’s ways,
The same as your father before you.
If the Government plan forces you to abandon
Your village, along with your neighbours,
It’s not just the cost of careers that are lost,
Our sense of this place will be dying…   CHORUS:

Soon you’ll drop your poles…[2nd half of Verse 1]

CHORUS:

OUTRO:      May the music they play fill up your day,
Send your trials away with the swells.