Come By

My father found this land in the early sixties

And he led me by the hand across the endless fields

He made these hills his own

Clearing every stone

In the wind and the rain alone

He was a farmer

Our dogs would drive the flock to the higher pasture

And I'd watch him choose the rocks to mend the dry stone walls

The steel beneath the skin

When he'd call the stragglers in

His voice upon the wind

Ever a farmer

Come on

Away

Come by

Lie Down

In 1986 when the dark clouds gathered

And the cold winds from the East

Was dusted with decay

On the great and on the small

It settled on us all

And we watched the margins fall

For the farmer

So where are the shearlings now

To gather in the folds

To count to clip and mark when there's

No fleece to be sold

And when a life of learning skills

Out on these Western hills

It barely pays the bills

For a farmer

Come on

Away

Come by

Lie Down

So now he sits and stares into the distance

Then I watch him climb the stairs where

Restless in his sleep

He stretches out his hand

And the dogs on his command

Strong eyed still work the land

With a farmer

Come on

Away

Come by

Lie down

Steady

That'll do.