The Travelling Waverlies lyrics

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COFFIN LANE

COFFIN LANE A wee narrow lane that runs by Dalry cemetry, leading from Dalry Road to Fountainbridge. Ah lived in Dalry, Edinburgh for fifteen years. It’s an interesting place as midnight approaches. BC


A bus goes waltzing by in the rain,
all distress flares and mad, staring eyes
drunk as a judge on hanging night

a near-full moon peeks skull & bones
through the bare branches of the trees

dalry’s cemetery wall looms
in the mirk, stone by stone:
a giant’s tomb

the reflections of traffic lights glimmer
like cast-off jewels in the wet road

outside the empty pub, the ghosts
of laurel & hardy slip and fall,
slip and fall

the shell station is ablaze with neon
late-night customers slip their money
through the window like ransom notes

through rain like rum, taxis
plunder the seas of dalry road:
pirate ships on pneumatic tyres

and midnight approaches, dressed
in silver and darkness, taps a cigarette
and disappears into the black mouth
of coffin lane.

© The travelling Waverlies