moon over 26951 Lyrics

If you travel to the downeast

Cross Knox county line

Hug the coastline on route one

Find the Thomaston sign

If you get there after dark

Past the setting sun

The moon shines on the St. George River

And the grave of 26951

Back in the 1820s

If a man were to sin

Stand before twelve equals

And if a guilty verdict's in

He'd wave goodbye to his loved ones

Because he knew he was done

He gets a Maine prison number just like 26951

By day you'd mine the limerock

Quarry 200 feet

Some water and a lobster stew

Burned away by summer heat

Lowered into cages

At night when you were done

And in the darkness you'd relive

What made you 26951

Some men did their time

The gates open they're free

Others spend their lives there

Thinking 'bout what'll never be

Found cold at morning roll call

Never claimed by wife or son

Buried at the prison cemetery

Next to 26951

Now the prison burned and was torn away

A single corner stands

The debris of a thousand convict lives

Now under loam and sand

Prison showroom sells the wares

Of inmates old and young

Tourists bustle around

But they don't see 26951

Black steel surrounds the graveyard

And the few stones that remain

Granite etched with sparse prose

Some dates, some names

Overlooking the great Maine forest

Where the tides and rivers run

That's where I knelt beside the marker of 26951

I never know who you are

What happened or what you did

If you were kind or you were evil

All those memories hid

But please know that from now on

No matter what you've done

One man will stop and say a prayer for 26951

So if you're driving downeast

Knox county line

Make a stop there on Main Street

And if you find the time

You should walk that south prison wall

And spend a minute son

Pay respects to those buried there

And to 26951

And the river runs to the sea

I watch the river roll to the sea

Over the wall you hear that river wild and free

I hope somebody

Remembers me

Yeah the river to the sea

Yeah the river runs to the sea

Over the wall you hear the river

Wild and free

I hope somebody remembers me