Free in the Harbour

by Stan Rogers

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Well it’s blackfish at play in Hermitage Bay
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From Pushthrough across to Bois Island
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They broach and they sprout and they lift their flukes out
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And they wave to a town that is dying
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Now it’s many’s the boats that have plied on the foam
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Hauling away! Hauling away!
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But there’s many more fellas been leaving their homes
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Where the whales make free in the harbour.
 
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It’s at Portage and Main you’ll see them again
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On their way to the hills of Alberta.
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With lop-side grins, they waggle their chins
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And they brag of the wage they’ll be earning.
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Then it’s quick, pull the string boys, and get the loot out,
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Haul it away! Haul it away!
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But just two years ago you could hear the same shout
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Where the whales make free in the harbour.
 
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Free in the harbour; the blackfish are sporting again
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Free in the harbour; untroubled by comings and goings of men
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Who once did persue them as oil from the sea,
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Hauling away! Hauling away!
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Now they’re Calgary roughnecks from Hermitage Bay,
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Where the whales make free in the harbour.
 
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