I wrote this when I left Dublin in 1994. I lived in the house that Rich Mullins wrote an instrumental about. The first time he played it was in the front room. It was an iconic wee address. It was an amazing place to live. The neighbours called it the community! We enjoyed the fact we were!
My friend Fr Martin Magill is leaving his parish in Sacred Heart off the Old Park Road this week to move to Ballyclare. He asked for a few words of a song he could use at mass, to say goodbye. I searched high and low and then rediscovered this. I am quite fond of it.
I think, apart from the address, especially verse two captures the universal feeling of moving on.
Life has us changing companions
I seem to change more than most
Memories of these years will linger
Like a blessed and friendly ghost
We touched some lives together
And many more lives touched us
You taught me how to question
And that taught me how to trust
You gave me room to find myself
And what life is meant to mean
Home, the everyday most spectacular
78 Easton Wood Green.
I’ll just say fare thee well, for now
Because this is no long goodbye
There’s still too much for us to share
Both before and after we die
I remember the hurt and the frustration
The weddings, songs and brand new dreams
Tears at things that clouded our vision
And the laughs at the silver seams
You gave me strength for what’s to come
I go in the light of what has been
Stay the way grace is changing you
78 Eaton Wood Green.
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