The New Ground / Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears
On the first day of JanuaryEighteen ninety-twoThey opened Ellis IslandAnd they let the people throughAnd the first to cross the thresholdOf that isle of hope and tearsWas Annie Moore from IrelandWho was all of fifteen years
Isle of hope, isle of tearsIsle of freedom, isle of fearsBut it's not the isle you left behindThat isle of hunger, isle of painIsle you'll never see againBut the isle of home is always on your mind
In a little bag she carriedAll her past and historyAnd her dreams for the futureIn the land of libertyAnd courage is the passportWhen your old world disappearsBut there's no future in the pastWhen you're fifteen years
Isle of hope, isle of tearsIsle of freedom, isle of fearsBut it's not the isle you left behindThat isle of hunger, isle of painIsle you'll never see againBut the isle of home is always on your mind
When they closed down Ellis IslandIn nineteen forty-threeSeventeen million peopleHad come there for sanctuaryAnd in springtime when I came hereAnd I stepped onto its piersI thought of how it must have beenWhen you're fifteen years
Isle of hope, isle of tearsIsle of freedom, isle of fearsBut it's not the isle you left behindThat isle of hunger, isle of painIsle you'll never see againBut the isle of home is always on your mind
Isle of hope, isle of tearsIsle of freedom, isle of fearsBut it's not the isle you left behindThat isle of hunger, isle of painIsle you'll never see againBut the isle of home is always on your mindBut the isle of home is always on your mind