Mary’s eyes are startling blue    And her hair’s Newcastle gold    And she walks the thin white line    Between the body and the soul    She’s as faithful to her history    As a novice to his fast    For she is standing on the bones    Of Ireland’s past       She is singing of the troubles    And a fire in the land    ‘til I can almost feel the famine    Slipping through my trembling hand    And I wonder as I hear her    That the spirit still shines through    And she can reach across the ocean deep    And break my heart in two       Mary’s wise as she is foolish    She’s as constant as the tide    For it’s a woman’s heart that beats beneath    That stubborn Irish pride    We are saints and we are sinners    We are heroes we are thieves    We are all of us beginners    On the road to Galilee       She is singing of the troubles    And a fire in the land    ‘til I can almost feel the famine    Slipping through my trembling hand    And I wonder as I hear her    That the spirit still shines through    And she can reach across the ocean deep    And break my heart in two       So let us hoist a pint of silence    To the east where Ireland lies    And we’ll stare across the waters    For a glimpse of Mary’s eyes    We are ships without a harbour    We are sailors on dry land    And the song goes on forever    Even though the record can’t       She is singing of the troubles    And a fire in the land    ‘til I can almost feel the famine    Slipping through my trembling hand    And I wonder as I hear her    That the spirit still shines through    And she can reach across the ocean deep    And break my heart in two