Synonymous With Strength

Here in the North West Warmth from the Gulf Stream can be felt Rising up over Errigal from Mexico Which merges into the North Atlantic Drift As the ocean circulates over time Meeting the Arctic's deep water freeze We come to understand the impact of pressure The ebb and flow leaves an impression Over time these conditions grew oaks Trees synonymous with strength Whose roots held this place together Named this land Doire Meaning oak grove The landscape also grows birch, holly, rowan and hazel Which host mystics intent on reprisal So there must be a hymn for an old oak wood Where god fearing and godliness meet We are busy adopting strays off the street Where we take the rough with the smooth But can be too tough or sing to sooth With our daunting but undamaged spirit We know some truths to be inaccurate Even the fools here have an appetite For coded language and find peace in an old adage Friction means things will eventually be smoothed out With a broken voice we sing Some hear it as a shout In praise of In memory of Some say, a stitch in time saves nine Here traditions stay in the bloodline Where faith healers walk among us Rebel poets with a giant's cause Who sing of the terrorist and of a peace keeping force Some will go to hell, while some look for remorse Glaciers shaped this landscape Where a man-made border is ignored by nature There's something about the historical friction Which carved up this land that might echo still in these valleys Maybe that's what the church dove Colmcille heard and tried to love It's said we've been troubled Which is one way of putting it What would you say? What would you sing? That there's still time yet to live without regret? And I know people Who could talk for days about their love for you But let us sing instead Of the Gulf Stream The warmth we feel And the almighty hope in remembering An old oak tree can't be felled easy And it pleases me to know this