The Rock

Mackenzie Phillips

There's a low rock wall

By the cliffs of Mower

Runs from down on the ground

Right up through the sea air

As a child I would climb

To the top of those stairs

And wish on the fog

I was anywhere else



The farms and the valleys

Are ringed with the stones

Of the men who built walls

Souse to be more alone

All that's left of them now

Are their fears and their bones

But the rocks they pulled up

Were all I've ever known



The Rock fought my spirit

The Rock fed my anger

The Rock broke my heart

Like the waves of the sea

I tried hard to fight

But it still grew inside me

This island

My Ireland

The Rock is in me



Hard was the ground

In which this child grew

Unforgiving and cold

Was the home that I knew

But knowing the soil

No harbor for you

Makes pulling up roots

That much easier to do



Set sail!

Young pilgrims

Set sail to a new land

Set sail!

Our future

Is out there to find





Now it's been years

Since I've been in that place

And the winds of my life

Have all weathered my face

But it's only with distance

And the coming of grace

That I see in you beauty

I could never replace



The Rock forged my spirit

The Rock was my anchor

The Rock held me fast

Through the storms of my youth

Now you'll never die

Cause you live on inside me

On Illin Sha

Ma Herring Fain

Lai –Lai –Lai –Lai …