I Never Felt This Way Before

[Spoken word]
We run along, and we come up with this idea to go down to the stream and check it out for fish
So we went to the river, downstream
And there's half a foot of water there
Little silver fish, but nothing substantial
Until one of their boys calls us further down
Lying in the water is a wee foal, four or five days old
He was all skin and bones, gray collar
And he's got flecks of blood on his coat, because he's cut himself up really badly on the sharp rocks
We're just standing over him and you can see his back leg's snapped
And he's breathing, he's alive, but just about
So this big conversation gets started up between the boys who suddenly reckon themselves the leaders
And they're deliberating as to what we should do
Someone says "Drop a rock on his head", but I'm looking in their faces
And I can see they're either scared stiff or clueless; it's all bravado
And this foal on the ground, in real pain
All this chitchat going on, going nowhere
Next thing, one of the priests sees us, sees the foal, tells us not to move it
That we were done for, we were really done for
Group of boys will always get the blame for hurting a foal
Group of Belfast boys will get a hammering for sure
So it's clear to me in an instant, and I'm down on my knees, and I take the foal's head in my hands and I put him underwater
He's thrashing around a bit at the start, so I press down harder until he's drowned

The priests arrived, Dom
Just grabbing me by the hair, dragging me through the woods
Promising me a proper punishment
But I knew I did the right thing by the wee foal
And I could take the punishment for all our boys
I had the respect of the other boys now, and I knew that
I'm clear of the reasons, Dom
I'm clear of all the repercussions
But I will act, and I will not stand by and do nothing