Dreaming of Home

by Austin Ennis

As I sit on the Big Hill overlooking the sea
I picture my hometown as it used to be
I see the houses, the gardens the meadows of hay
And the old gravel roads I walked in my younger days

I see the wharves and the stages all along the shoreline
The flakes full of salt fish curing in the sunshine
I see the boats on the moorings all loaded with gear
That our fathers made ready for the new fishing year

I see the clothes on the line in the wind they do blow
That mom washed with the lye soap on the old scrubbing board
I close my eyes and once again I smell new mown hay
And the fragrance takes me back to my childhood days

Those pictures are still clear in my memory
When Merasheen was full of livyrs so happy and free
Now that the livyrs have all moved away
It’s just a lonely little island in Placentia Bay

The houses are gone now the gardens are no more
There’s no wharves, no stages, no flakes anymore
On that island where our lives were so peaceful and free
In that little fishing village down by the sea
Yes Merasheen Island was heaven to me!