Salters Road

She was waiting for a boy
In her corduroy britches
Driving on a Clydesdale like her father once had done
From Mutton Hole to Preston Hall through all the dells and ditches
And an avenue of burly beech that reach towards the sun
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
Down Salter’s Road to Fala Dam and all the way home
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
She was waiting for a boy
In his trews of navy cotton
Something she had half-forgotten is as clear as water now
The horseman’s only daughter takes the Friday boat to Bergen
And the waves swell like a barley field that’s ready to lay down
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
Down Salter’s Road to Fala Dam and all the way home
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
Down the spine of the St Lawrence
To Kirkwall’s stony shore
The old north wind gathers her into his arms once more
She was waiting for a boy
He came skipping down to greet her
Through the starch and bleach and buttons he was singing out her name
The evening clouds are huddled in so close that you could catch them
Granite sheen upon the river and the shimmering of rain
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
Down Salter’s Road to Fala Dam and all the way home
For miles and miles and miles she’d roam
Down Whippielaw and Windy Mains and all the way home
All the way home …