The Ashes of Iceland

From way back in April 2010. This one’s a take on James Keelaghan’s “The Fires of Calais,” which was about the civilian boats carrying out the evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II. The situation was not quite so fraught for those stranded in 2010 when air travel was grounded in Europe after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption filled the skies with aircraft-damaging ash, but they still needed to get home somehow…

The writer referred to is Neil Gaiman, then newly engaged to singer Amanda Palmer. That… didn’t turn out so well, alas. Sigh.

(TTTO “The Fires of Calais,” James Keelaghan)

The fishing boats roll out across the dark green channel water
They’ve cleared out all the space to meet the passenger demand
It’s not herring they’ll be hauling through the waters on this morning
But the travelers all stranded by the ashes of Iceland

The mount whose name I can’t pronounce is belching clouds of darkness
The airports all are shut down at the governments’ command
As people seek a different way to reach their destinations
I may make a few quid extra from the ashes of Iceland

And I read the writer dreaming of his dear belov’d Amanda
In Glasgow they were set to meet, but planes no longer land
He asks his Twitter followers to tell her that he loves her
And he’ll see her when the sky is clear of ashes of Iceland

I’ve fished these channel waters since I was man enough to face them
But the herring and the flounder are no longer close to hand
If these tourists pay enough to keep my boat a-running
I’ll heap the highest blessings on the ashes of Iceland

The fishing boats roll out across the dark green channel water
The cheerful captains whistling a tune by Keelaghan
It’s not herring they’ll be hauling through the waters on this morning
But the travelers all stranded by the ashes of Iceland