Esther - Katie Noonan

I stole two piece of lace it was a short fall from grace

15 years old, a child sent away

A child I was but a mother to be as well

Newgate Gaol walls my babies’s first home

New South Wales bound on the Lady Penryhn we were

Below the water line, 100 women, my daughter and I

16, 000 miles, 8 months this dark, dank hole

Starvation and disease knocking at our door

This is a woman’s story in a man’s time

This is a gentle face in a brute world

Then I saw your eyes, kindsp and fair blue

A Lieutenant above the decks but by cape town our love was true

But the sadness in this land runs so deep

In the penal hell hole I strive to make my home

But as the corpses pile high, our blessings are many

7 children, a home and a farm

Though charged with mutiny, here I am free

And almost 30 years since we met, I finally marry thee

This is a woman’s story in a man’s time

This is a gentle face in a brute world

Leaden Hearts

What is this place how hard is my fate?

How galling this chain round my neck?

Now I am bound to slavery

‘Til I regain my liberty

Once i was a tender child on my mother’s knee

But now I am prison bound for slavery

No pen can write, no tongue can tell

The aching heart that bids farewell

Forget me not

When this you see, remember me

Though many miles we distant be

When this you see, remember me

When this you see, remember me

Please bear me in your mind

I’ll love til death shall stop my breath

Weep not for me with this heavy heart

I am confined here with grief

Though time may fly and hopes may die

And joyful dreams may set, you I’ll never forget

May time roll on, quick though it flew

My love’s constant true to you

‘Til I am free and me you see

No pen can write, no tongue can tell

The aching heart that bids farewell

Forget me not

When this you see, remember

Though many miles we distant be

When this you see, remember me

When this you see, remember me

Let not absence banish our love

Cause I’ll love til death shall stop my breath

I’ll love til death shall stop my breath