Henry's Songbook

The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
Green island like a leaf new fallen from the tree
Green turns to gold as morning breezes gently shake the barley
Bending the yellow corn
Green turns to gold, there's purple shadows on the distant mountains
And sun in the yellow corn

They came in their longships from lands beyond the sea
They came in their longships, they saw the land was green
Wind in the barley, trout and salmon leaping in the rivers
Sun in the yellow corn
Leaping ashore, they slaughtered those who laboured in the barley
Scything them down like corn

The longships sailed away and new invaders came
With longbow and lance, bringing death in England's name
With sword and with mace they went reaping through the fields of barley
They plundered the yellow corn
Crop followed crop and prospered in the killing fields of barley
And the harvest of the new young corn

Marching down the years the men of war they came
With bombs, assassain's bullets, c.s. gas and guns
Ghosts from the past are chasing shadows through the fields of barley
Hiding in the yellow corn
Nine-hundred years they've tried to trap the wind that shakes the barley
And the sun in the yellow corn

The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
Green island like a leaf new fallen from the tree
Green turns to gold as morning breezes gently shake the barley
Bending the yellow corn
No force on earth can ever trap the wind that shakes the barley
Or the sun in the yellow corn

(as sung by Christy Moore)