The Halifax Explosion

The Halifax Explosion
12/14/2006
by Tom Flannery copyright 2006
.

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It was the 6th day of December
in 1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia
just awakened from it's dreams
I was a wee lad of 11
I claim 100 now
89 years a blind man
is all that heaven should allow
It was the Halifax explosion
that took my eyes away
2 ships met in the narrows
one or the other gone astray
the Mont-Blanc was filled with powder
for these were days of war
The blast it killed 2000
and injured thousands more

Look away
Look away
Look away if you can
Look away
Look away
Look away if you can

At first it was just a fire
that cut through the morning air
and kids we took to windows
to wonder and to stare
the clock read 9:05am
I could see the passersby
and the blast it blew the windows in
and took away my eyes
They say the town was leveled
I took them at their word
for what I did hear next
was a sound I'd never heard
the moans of people dying
and my world fading away
when the night comes and brings quiet
I can hear it to this day

Look away
Look away
Look away if you can
Look away
Look away
Look away if you can

My father and my brother
were buried where they stood
flesh and bone were no match
for burning chunks of wood
it took days and days to find them
they say it was an awful sight
one I cannot conjure up
though try and try I might
So the Lord works in strange ways
you've heard that one no doubt
he left me with my mother
who once was so devout
she cursed up to the heavens
till I buried her in the ground
faith shattered like the windows
for miles and miles around

Look away
Look away
Look away if you can
Look away
Look away
Look away if you can

And so my world is darkness
but can others really see
what the Halifax Explosion
is still doing to me
everything has been wiped away
you can eat off the town floor
but that 11 year old boy
still brings ghosts to my door
It was the 6th day of December
in 1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia
just awakened from it's dreams
I was a wee lad of 11
I claim 100 now
89 years a blind man
is all that heaven should allow

Look away
Look away
Look away if you can
Look away
Look away
Look away if you can