The Vale Lyrics

They came here in '41,
When I was just a boy,
The Docklands streets they left behind
The bombers then destroyed
All scattered through our valley
In hamlets and in farms
To shelter from the storms of war
Hidden from all harm
Oh, hidden from all harm

That first summer long and warm,
The fighters overhead
A bomb fell on the hillside,
And shook us in our beds,
Flirting with those city girls,
And fighting with it's sons,
But come the early autumn fall,
We lived and laughed as one,
Oh, we lived and laughed as one.

My father farmed the hillside fields
That shadowed half the Vale
Behind his back we walked alone
And watched the moon set sail
The victory gained, they all returned
I had no cause to doubt
Her promise to return to me
Before the year was out,
Before the year was out.

Season after season fell
With no hand at my door
I fell to sense and reason
Not waiting anymore
Oh, the Sunday hymns we used to sing
I faltered on each verse
And tried to say a prayer for her
It came out like a curse
Oh, it came out like a curse.

When forty years had passed, one day,
My son walked in our lane
A stranger stopped his car and shook his hand
And asked his name
From where I stood, they looked just like
Two brothers face to face,
I walked towards them through the meadows
Where we once embraced,
Oh, where we once embraced.

She was here in '41,
When I was just a boy.