The Wandering Dispossessed

In their horse drawn gipsy caravans they roamed the countryside And they hated the word 'Tinker' it seemed to hurt their pride They liked to be called travellers that name they did not mind As it seemed appropriate to them as they were wandering kind. It's been said that they were wanderers way back since Cromwell's time That they were the main victims of the oppressors crime They were poor tenant farmers the downtrod and oppressed Who roamed the roads of Ireland when they were dispossessed. For petty crimes and larcenies some say they were to blame But they were once proud people till Cromwell's army came And poverty give rise to crime and it has oft been said That in the lives of the down trodden the klepto bug is bred. And thinking of these people take me back down the years 'The tinkers will come to get you' brought little boy to tears When we were naughty children our mum to us did say The Tinkerman will come at midnight and carry you away. And i dreamt i was a prisoner in gipsy caravan And so scared of my jailer the dark haired travelling man I was his little slave boy to be sold at horse fair And i woke loudly screaming to find it a night mare. They were proud tenant farmers till Cromwell's army came And they have been downtrodden and been called out of name And they have known great prejudice and they have been oppressed And still outcasts in their Country are the wandering dispossessed.