On the first day of January 1892 they opened Ellis Island and let the people through
And the first to cross that threshold of that Isle of Hope and Tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland who was only fifteen years

Chorus;
Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears, Isle of Freedom, Isle of Fears
But its not the isle you left behind
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind

In a little a bag she carried all her past and history
And her dreams for the future in the land of liberty
And courage is your passport when your old world disappears
For there’s no future in the past when you’re fifteen years, Chorus

When they closed Ellis Island in 1943
Seventeen million people had come there for sanctuary
And in springtime when I came there and stepped onto its pier
I thought of how it must have been when you’re only fifteen years, Chorus

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears     by B. Graham