Two Strong Arms Songtext
von Eric Bogle
Two Strong Arms Songtext
In the still heat of the afternoon Christos was laid to rest
In the dry and dusty red soil of Australia
As the mulberry and cypress bloomed beneath the mountain crests
So far away in Macedonia
The children of his heart and the children of his blood
In sorrow and in silence and in pride around him stood
All his sons and daughters with their daughters and their sons
The family of the man with two strong arms
Born a peasant′s son on a mountain
Farm where a thin and grudging earth
Made hunger a grey ghost at every meal
Where life was just a grinding stone of poverty and death
That crushed young and old alike beneath the wheel
So before the wheel could turn, with his family and his wife
Christos came down from the mountains searching for a better life
Bringing only hopes and dreams with him to the distant southern land
And a brave and willing heart and two strong arms
In a West Australian country town Christos found a job
For men willing to work hard and bend their backs
Cutting the lofty gumtrees down, clearing bush and scrub
Where speaking English mattered less than a good sharp axe
Driven by his dreams as the hard years came and went
Christos bent his back to every daylight hour that God sent
Now many golden wheat fields grow on many western farms
The rich harvest of the man with two strong arms
He worked to keep his family fed and
Clothed, to give his kids the chance
For them to try and be all they could be
So that unlike him they'd never know the chains of ignorance
Or taste the bitter bread of poverty
He wanted them to have all the things he′d never had
And if all that took was blood and sweat he'd give both and be glad
He lived to watch his children grow and match their father's dreams
All it took was love and pride and two strong arms
In the still heat of the afternoon Christos was laid to rest
In the dry and dusty red soil of Australia
As the mulberry and cypress bloomed beneath the mountain crests
So far away in Macedonia
The children of his heart and the children of his blood
In sorrow and in silence and in pride around him stood
All his sons and daughters with their daughters and their sons
The family of the man with two strong arms
In the dry and dusty red soil of Australia
As the mulberry and cypress bloomed beneath the mountain crests
So far away in Macedonia
The children of his heart and the children of his blood
In sorrow and in silence and in pride around him stood
All his sons and daughters with their daughters and their sons
The family of the man with two strong arms
Born a peasant′s son on a mountain
Farm where a thin and grudging earth
Made hunger a grey ghost at every meal
Where life was just a grinding stone of poverty and death
That crushed young and old alike beneath the wheel
So before the wheel could turn, with his family and his wife
Christos came down from the mountains searching for a better life
Bringing only hopes and dreams with him to the distant southern land
And a brave and willing heart and two strong arms
In a West Australian country town Christos found a job
For men willing to work hard and bend their backs
Cutting the lofty gumtrees down, clearing bush and scrub
Where speaking English mattered less than a good sharp axe
Driven by his dreams as the hard years came and went
Christos bent his back to every daylight hour that God sent
Now many golden wheat fields grow on many western farms
The rich harvest of the man with two strong arms
He worked to keep his family fed and
Clothed, to give his kids the chance
For them to try and be all they could be
So that unlike him they'd never know the chains of ignorance
Or taste the bitter bread of poverty
He wanted them to have all the things he′d never had
And if all that took was blood and sweat he'd give both and be glad
He lived to watch his children grow and match their father's dreams
All it took was love and pride and two strong arms
In the still heat of the afternoon Christos was laid to rest
In the dry and dusty red soil of Australia
As the mulberry and cypress bloomed beneath the mountain crests
So far away in Macedonia
The children of his heart and the children of his blood
In sorrow and in silence and in pride around him stood
All his sons and daughters with their daughters and their sons
The family of the man with two strong arms
Writer(s): Eric Bogle Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
