Tunie: Demasduit Dream

About

By Great Big Sea on their CD "Turn." This song is named for a woman named Demasduit (also spelled Demasduwit), one of the last of the Beothuk people who were native to Newfoundland. The last known Beothuk, Demasduit's niece Shanawdithit, died in 1829.

I dreamt I saw a woman standing by the strand

Waiting for her people to come in from the land

Waiting there for seven days, she built a fire in the sand

Waiting for her people to come in from the land

She had the look of a refugee hiding in her eyes

And when I tried to talk to her, she answered with a cry

And pointed to the water out beyond the harbor line

Where a thousand ships lay waiting, they lay waiting for my sign

But I remember days of sunlight with my father by my side

And the children ran before us like the foam upon the tide

We ran like frightened partridge when the strangers came to talk

Bringing sickness 'round them and the thunder in their walk

We ran into the valleys, and we ran into the hills

The young they ran before us, driven by a stranger's will

But I remember days of sunlight with my father by my side

And the children ran before us like the foam upon the tide

Waiting by the landwash, a giant standing near

I see them coming always, all the children in their fear

I'm waiting on my blanket, and the giant waits with me

And I will wait here always, as they fill the endless sea

I remember days of sunlight with my father by my side

And the children ran before us like the foam upon the tide

I remember days of sunlight...

I remember children...

I remember days of sunlight...