Lament for Owen Christy/Under the Wind
Music © 1980 Jim Stewart, SOCAN
Words © 1997 Gordon Bok, BMI
During the potato famine, many Irish people emigrated to Canada, arriving at the port of Saint John, N.B. Owen Christy was one of those, but he died in quarantine and was buried on Partridge Island. The tune is Jim's lament, for Owen and his kind.
Many of my poems are a response, not to one need or incident, but to a few, and parts get changed or added on as the needs dictate. Under the Wind is one of those.
Gordon- small viol
Carol – harp
Love on us all, now, under the wind,
The old wind, ever among us.
And love of the dark winds, too:
Love of the hard, grey wave.
Love of the long oar that takes us through;
Love of the tree that gave it to us.
And love the day – this bright swift day
Under the long, old wind –
Love on us all.
Lament for Owen Christy is recorded on the albums In the Kind Land, and A Water Over Stone (instrumental only); Under the Wind is added to it on In the Kind Land