On the first day of January Eighteen Ninety-two
They opened Ellis Island, and they
let the people through.
And the first to cross the threshold
Of the Isle of hope and tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.
Isle of hope, Isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, Isle of fears,
But it's not the Isle I left
behind...
That Isle of hunger, Isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the Isle of home is always on
your mind.
In her little bag she carried
All her past and history
And her dreams for the future in the
land of liberty.
And courage is the passport
When your old world disappears
Cause there's no future in the past
When you're fifteen years.
When they closed down Ellis Island
In Nineteen Forty-three
Seventeen million people had come
there for sanctuary.
And in springtime when I came here
And stepped onto its piers,
I thought of how it must have been
When you're only fifteen years.
Author: Brendan Graham
"Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" is a typically Irish song. A moving tribute to the experience of Irish immigrants who left everything behind to come to America. More precisely, the song refers to Ellis Island, located at the mouth of New York harbour, which served as a "lock" for immigrants before they had the official right to settle on American soil. It was here that they were registered, checked and medically examined to ensure they were in good health. The song, considered one of the great classics of the Irish repertoire, emotionally evokes the experiences of Irish emigrants at the time.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário