Two pennies

Searching through a drawer one day

I found a small brown box

It contained two copper coins

They didn't seem a lot

The date on them was 1912

That stirred my memory

Of my fathers' final journey

On the north Atlantic sea

I watched with many thousands

As the ship left Belfast lough

Unsinkable I heard men say

She's as great as the Albert Clock

I clutched the coins so tightly

As he put them in my hand

And the last thing that he said to me was

Save them till I return

Chorus

Two Pennies for your love, two pennies for luck

Keep them safe till I return for you

I'm sailing away bound for America

On a ship called Titanic

I was just a boy of four

On that April day

My mother died some weeks ago

Now my father must go away

To search for work in America

And to find for us a home

For me and my brother Tommy

It's life for us alone

Years roll on and tears run dry

My memories are still fresh

This town had heroes on that ship

Its people know them best

At a gathering for our lost ones

I cried most bitterly

And I clutched the copper pennies

That daddy gave to me

Repeat chorus

© Padraig Lalor 2005