Nancy Kerr 2017
A celebration of the women, including her mother, who participated in the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp where as many as 70,000 women protested the siting of U.S. nuclear missiles at the British air base in 1981-87. Written for protest song collaboration "Shake the Chains".
Chorus:
Farewell the fire, likewise the freeze
Farewell the ash upon the breeze
That carrion day we’ll chase away
When peace comes marching through the trees
As a child I always knew that on the wind some poison blew
That gathering clouds would be our shroud for a falling fire was coming
Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common
Now tyrants stir our fear for greed and even fair men pay no heed
Behind the trees and below the seas, our rulers hoard their weapons
And it is no curse to now begin to see the bones beneath the skin
Don’t turn away from judgment day for another storm does threaten
Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common
Now see them fly upon the air, my baby’s clothes, my lover’s hair
That carrion day I’ll bear away with the strength of many womenÂ