Push for PORTER

For three generations their family had grown
around the flats where Amy's grandmother was born
From the Dublin boats it was here they set down
A woodsmoke choked TB stopped town
There was alcohol, rats and fighting in the streets
With the men all at work and the kids ran free
Amy's grandfather worked down the ships
While Amy's grandmother fought to raise six kids

It was here the tall ships would come and go
To the rushing sound of the river's flow
The yards here now are scattered bones
Stories still untold
Staring into the river's fray
the ghosts before here had done in their day
Her fears were scattered, lifted away
Stories still untold

Like all the other boys at the age of 15
Amy's dad left school for apprenticing
and the steel and the sparks and the heat and the haze
With his tools in his hands in the yard's dying days
Amy followed her brothers born in 83
Their dad leaving home was a stolen memory
Her mother worked cleaning shifts, raised them on her own
Just the help of her granny! No man in the home

Through spinning wheels, games and street sun, she swam
The restless eyes of her brothers were thrown
Always one to dance heavy on the rules
Her tongue cut as sharp as her mind in school
The pride on her shoulders hung heavy and curled,
Her green eyes burned at the smile of a doll
The streets were her playground, She moved through them with ease
Skipping the notes of the paved melodies

At the age of 16 she lit the scene
Started steady with a boy named Michael Geary
He was known around the flats, his brothers had his back
But to Amy he'd sing "my darling"
There's forsaken souls around here you know
There's dead end wages or signing on the dole
But another dance awaits, Michael shifts his gaze
to the older lads bringing back the cash in the game.

1999's summer nights so fine
They were running wild in love as young folk can
But their sodding gold, the notes came back in rolls
From the deals Michael ran for the pushers
As October drew on, the sun grew wan
The lights in her eyes grew weary
He was gone at times for days with a terrified glaze
His return, blood on his laces

One morning in the sun while dreaming coming on
Her silence was broken by a wailing
They came screaming into view, as one day they would she knew
The police pounced, Michael was taken
A rattle or a hammer, and Amy's sudden stammer
Gave way to nights of confusion
But she wasn't left alone for in the new year he was born
Their son, he had Michael's eyes you know