From the recording Kray Van Kirk - Live at the Acorn
Between Ireland to the west and Wales & Scotland to the east lies the Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea. The island has its own incredibly rich set of myths and stories, not to mention language and traditions; I absolutely love it. Kirk Michael is a little town on the west coast, in which my wife spent a good part of her growing up. I would love to take a year and go hide away in some small sheep croft and record an album of Manx fairy tales.
Lyrics
THE HOUSE ABOUT KIRK MICHAEL
Kray Van Kirk
(c) Midnight Commander Music
There's a house about Kirk Michael
out upon the Irish Sea
Where it's written on the doorways
where the windows used to be
that all who come inside will be tucked in
for lovely evening tea
There's a house about Kirk Michael
and it's tilted on its side
Drunk upon the tempest
drunk upon the tide
But solid of Byzantium
where candled windows and the dark collide
There's a house about Kirk Michael
and it's full of sleepy bears
And a dozen shabby tigers
who pounce upon the stairs
While out along the Widow's Walk
Joe Strummer singing with the Mescalers
Well about Kirk Michael
is a child who loves the dogs
And one who plants flowers
from the garden catalogues
And one who builds her dragons
in the heavy autumns fogs
Only heroes dare the kitchens
pies and puddings on the wall and floors
It's my favorite mystery
the pages of our history
There's a house about Kirk Michael
and in it I will die
I'll leave it for the children
with the windows open wide
Those poets and their patchwork quilted boats to set them free
These fragments have I shored against my ruin
And love shall not be lost
in this summer-flowered house beside the sea