McKeown and I

by Mickey MacConnell

D We built sandcastles – McKeown and I A
A summer holiday7 a cloudless sky D
They had G turrets, towers and battlements
A D world away from our tenements
Of A filth and rats and pawnshop rents
And E no green place to play A
They had G flags that fluttered high and white
A D moat and drawbridge for white knight
We A watched them there with child’s delight
Till the tide washed them away. D

We’re men of G straw, We’re men of D sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to A stand
We’re two born G losers,
Sure to fail ere we’d begunD
We’re A snowmen built for melting in the sun.D

We built a scarecrow, McKeown and I A
One wild September 7 day, a troubled skyD
On the G farm in the reformatory
we D built him tall as he could be
A Stuffed with straw from chest to knee
A E hat without a crown.A
G Tall as the dads we’d never known
A D priest’s old coat around him thrown
A A Borstal king but ours alone
Till the east wind blew him down. D

We’re men of G straw, We’re men of D sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to A stand
We’re two born G losers,
SSure to fail ere we’d begunD
We’re A snowmen built for melting in the sun.D

D We built a snowman, McKeown and I A
One bleak December day7, a bitter sky D
In the G prison yard where the convicts go
D Outside our cell on the lowest row
We A built him of the purest snow
Like E two small boys at play.A
G White as the judge who last year said
D Rot in the cell until you’re dead
Black A coals for eyes,  we watched in dread
As the sun burned him away.

We’re men of G straw, We’re men of D sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to A stand
We’re two born G losers,
SSure to fail ere we’d begunD
We’re A snowmen built for melting in the sun.D