Safe Passage

A long, long time ago where Scotland meets the water,
They climbed aboard a schooner headed west,
For safe passage they did pray, with their sons and their daughters,
To a new world they hoped to be the best.
They rode the waves for weeks
To the mouth of the St. Lawrence,
And crawled off that boat in Montreal.
Generations lived and died,
Between the river and the border,
From the other side
There came a deadly called.
Far to the south, sabers had been rattled,
It was said that any brave should take a stand,
Young man loved the fight with pistol in saddle,
So he made his way on down to Dixieland.
And his mother prayed for him,
She prayed for his safe passage,
She prayed that he came barely back alive,
Music Interlude
That boy returned old but got his 40 acres,
And they cleared the hemlock from that low hill side,
He built my father’s house,
And a barn when he was able,
Still standin' tall to prove he was alive.
Our daddy told us young,
He would be the last one,
To raise a livin' from that rocky land,
So across these many miles,
I’m back again too often,
My journey with my guitar in my hand,
My mother prays for me,
She prays for my safe passage,
She prays that I will make it back home alive…