Footprints of John B
There is nowhere quite so lonely as a silent darkened stage
When the footlights have all dimmed and died and the props are put away
But our town felt just as lonely as May turned into June
When God finally rang the curtain down and called our playwright home.
But you cannot kill a rainbow nor turn back the rising sun
Nor undo the works of gifted men even though their day is done
For they always walk beside us when the things they had to say
Are a part of what we were and are and form the centre of our ways
Chorus
So search for him in Market Street, Pound Lane or in the Square
Or late afternoon in Church Street – sure you’ll likely find him there
Or where the laughing sparkling silvery Feale sweeps westward to the sea
There you’ll follow in the shadow of the footprints of John B.
He always seemed to hear a tune that others seldom heard
As he walked through his beloved streets or in the woods of Gurtinard
He would pause and talk to children knowing each and every name
Of their seed and generation and the place from where they came.
And the countrymen he wrote about – the corner boys and knaves
Slipped from reality to printed words and then to actors on the stage
And their language that he captured, all the things they had to say
Meant the man who loved his native town never really went away.
Chorus
So search for him in Market Street, Pound Lane or in the Square
Or rounding Scully’s corner, sure you’ll surely find him there
Or where……..etc
All the poets and the writers came to say a last goodbye
As did the actors and the critics, the mighty and the high
As they mingled with the townsfolk on his last sad journey home
Then each and everyone knew well we were parting with our own.
But I take comfort from the shadows for shadows mean the sun still shines
To light the clouds above us and the ones that fog our minds
So each time the pen confronts the sword for the likes of you and me
There you’ll find the gentle shadow and the spirit of John B.
Chorus
So search for him in Market Street, Pound Lane or in the Square
Or somewhere out by Markey’s Bridge, You’ll surely find him there
Or where the……….etc