KEEPER OF THE SHRINE
For Charlie McGlynn

1. I stumbled in to Lattimer, a long way from home
He was quietly working round the Rock by the road.
Mowing the grass with care, tending the flowers there,
We got to talking and he said:
"This ground is sacred, here the martyrs bled".

Eighteen-ninety-seven and coal was the king
Immigrant workers were called in to dig.
Many young lives destroyed, ten year olds as breaker-boys,
Their fathers old before their time
Till the workers found the strength to organise.
And they marched for better wages and they marched for dignity
And their brothers joined them all along the line.
From Hazleton to Lattimer, in peaceful ranks they came.
And the Rock of Solidarity is a symbol of their faith:
The right to live and work with dignity,
To live and work and die with dignity.

2. The tenth of September was a Friday that year.
All of Pennsylvania would soon wake to hear:
Sheriff Martin's deputies on behalf of powers-that-be
Had blocked the road and loaded guns
And blasted point blank into the crowd.

Bodies bleeding on the road and this is the spot.
In this very place, those miners were shot.
This is where they hit the wall - little people standing tall -
Their sacrifice it was supreme.
It is for us now to keep alive the dream.
This place is my devotion, I'm the keeper of the shrine.
If you listen now you'll hear soft voices sigh.
Let's remember what they gave us before it slips away:
The Rock of Solidarity, the symbol of their faith,
The right to live and work with dignity,
To live and work and die with dignity."

3. "I guess as long as human kind inhabits the earth
There'll be constant struggle for the rights of our birth.
The big guns are subtle now, they shoot the workers anyhow;
If we're not careful it won't be long
Till the gains of the working man are gone.

So let us light these candles now, to honour their names
Twenty-six candles, a face in each flame.
Nineteen eternal flames for all the men who fell that day,
Six for the ones who later died
And one more for the thousands beside.
They are Labour's unknown soldiers who gave for us their all.
We enjoy today the benefits they gained.
Let's defend what they gave us before it slips away:
The Rock of Solidarity, for every creed and race
Who fight to live and work with dignity
To work and live and die with dignity.

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Words & Music © Peter Kearney.
This song is registered with One License, APRA and AMCOS.
Church and school licences through 'One License'.
E: info@onelicense.net

HEAR / SEE ALL SONGS posted so far: https://peterkearney.bandcamp.com

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