Ellis Island

I was driving down ninth avenue

As the sky was getting dark

Didn't have nothing else to do

So I kept on riding to battery park

As I stept out in the damp and misty night

As the fog was rolling in

Man said 'last boat leaving tonight

Is the boat for Ellis Island

As my feet touched the solid ground

I felt a chill run down my spine

I could almost hear the sound

Of thousand pushing through the lines

Mothers and bewildered wives

That sailed across the raging sea

Others running for their lives

To the land of opportunity

Down on Ellis Island

'What is this strange paradise ?'

They must have wondered

Through the cries ands moans

After all their sacrificed

Their faith, their families, friends and homes

Then on the separation stairs

They were counted out or counted in

Frozen while the inspector stared

Down on Ellis Island

Down on Ellis Island

Me I only stumbled in

Just to wander around that empty hall

Where someone else's fate had been

Decided in no time at all

Cases filled with hats and clothes

And the belonging of those

Who journeyed far

They're stange reminders I supose

Of where we're from and who we are

But as the boat pulled off shore

I could see the fog was lifting

And lights I'd never seen before

Were shining down on Ellis Island

Shining down on Ellis Island.

                                                                                            MARC COHN, 'Burning the dare' 1998