Happy Birthday Roma!

I want to pay tribute to one of the amazing people in the history of music who shaped my life. Roma Ryan. She is the poet lyricist for Enya which is a Trio of Enya herself, producer Nicky Ryan and of course Roma.

Roma and Nicky Ryan met Enya in 1978; Nicky was managing Enya’s family’s band Clannad. Enya had just finished secondary school when Nicky Ryan rang her, asking if she would become a member of the group. The Ryans and Enya left Clannad several years later to focus on their own musical careers. Enya originally wrote instrumental melodies. Roma found these melodies “very visual” and suited to film work; she began to write lyrics to them.

Roma is originally from Belfast Northern Ireland. She is a visual artist as well as a poet and writer; her artwork, as well as selected poems, may be viewed at her official website, www.romaryan.com

 

One day, one night, one moment,
with a dream to believe in.
One step, one fall, one falter,
find a new earth across a wide ocean.
This way became my journey,
this day ends together, Far and Away.
This day ends together, Far and Away.
Far and Away.

That video above is taken from the movie Far and Away. Have you seen that movie? I admit it is a long one. But it is a beautiful story about Irish immigrants and a race for lands in the United States. “find a new earth across a wide ocean”..I love this line. For those who hope for a better place, a new beginning, this song echoes it all. Sometimes our journey to freedom from oppression doesn’t really mean going into another country…sometimes it is  a feeling we just have to overcome. And for those who f0und themselves out of bondage and pain, this song goes to you.