Part I: She Found Me
I saw the ocean’s waves
Advancing like an army to war
I heard each marching wave
Perish in the cannon’s roar
Each one a soldier of the sun
Born of water, and nothing more
I saw the howling wind
Performing calculations in the sky
I heard the voice of the wind
Reciting computations cold and dry
I saw it carrying the zeros
From the problems facing you and I
I saw the moon descending
As I ventured into the mist
I heard a song gently ending
But the final words I must have missed
I was in over my head
To the depths these bones were fed
Passed out cold on her seabed
Where she found me, or so she said
She could have left me there for dead
But chose to love me back to life instead
But not like that, don’t be misled
For we never even kissed
She just kept on singing
You may not quite believe me
But it’s the truth
I insist
Part II: Her Song
“How long will you remain on land
And fear the depths of the sea
How long will you wade in the shallows
And refuse to swim in the sea
Swim out to me and I’ll swim with you
And you’ll see deeper things with me
“And yet you hear nothing of what I say
Your eyes fixed firmly on things below
The surge is coming to wash you away
If you’d only listened, then perhaps you’d know
It will be my turn to watch and stare
As your breath becomes the undertow
“And yet I love those whom I love
Those who love beyond themselves
I am found by those who seek me
By those who seek beyond their shells
If not for them, I’d stay below
In the deep beneath the swells
“I fill their nets to overflowing
With a catch that is better than gold
I fill their crab pots with a haul
Worth more than silver I’ve been told
I swim straight and I swim true
And give them riches worth more unsold
“I was there on that first day
I was the first of all that was ever made
Before the mountains, hills, or streams
Before the earth’s foundation ever laid
The sea itself was made for me
I wasn’t merely made to be its maid
“So listen to these words I cry
And keep your eyes fixed out to sea
Those who hear me will swim at my side
And life itself is what they’ll see
But those who see me first with thirsty eyes
Desire death even more than me”
Part III: She Belongs to the Sea
(after She Belongs to Me by Bob Dylan)
She goes where she goes
And she will be wherever she will be
She goes where she goes
And she will be whoever she will be
She doesn’t need your stare
She isn’t there for you to see
You start out thinking you’ll impress her
With your knowledge of the sea
You start out thinking you’ll impress her
With your oceanic mastery
But you’ll wind up gasping in the shallows
While she frolics out in the deep
She never speaks poorly
Of anyone, or anything great or small
She never speaks poorly
Of any tale told, great or tall
She only speaks the truth
Even when she doesn’t speak at all
She wears a suit upon her skin
And a hood that wraps around her head
She gathers warmth and life within
And leaves the world out in the cold instead
She gives to all who need
And takes nothing from the greedy or the dead
She’s been there from day one
She knows love, she knows not fear
She saw the rays of the first day’s sun
She feels love, she feels not fear
One hand wears a ring that sparkles
In the other she holds a spear
She hunts wherever she hunts
But not for pleasure and not for prize
Yes, she hunts whatever she hunts
Neither for pleasure nor for prize
She gives her kill to feed the hungry
She’s not there to please your eyes
Part IV: My Only Explanation
They say she’ll lure a man with beauty
That she seeks his eye and desire
Her song haunts him to submission
As the sea consumes his flesh like fire
Till he’s just a ghost over her waters,
Forever hovering, unable to deny her
Others say that she is of water alone
Living long yet without a very soul
But she may trade her days for a man
And gain the hope of heaven in full
That she needs him, that she wants him
That without him she’ll forever be unwhole
But they speak of that which they know not
Their senses dulled by a warmer climate
Where her skin lays bare for all to see
Where each man with the eyes of a pirate
Can reduce her whole complex equation
To the sum of his weakness kept private
They care nothing of her struggle
Her fight for survival out in this world so cold
They love the sound of her voice
But miss the strength in her song so bold
They crave her beauty for themselves
So by it their own destruction will unfold
Here’s my only explanation
A myth is just a shadow cast in light
This is only my observation
Truth is a rock in the water at night
One is pleasure, the other pain
One is loss and the other gain
One is pride, the other shame
One is war, one just a game
One is ashes and one is flame
One brings a worn out label on a chain
And the other, it brings a name
But she brings both, and it’s alright
Part V: Who Can See Her
She closes her eyes and bows her head
She wipes the blood from the ends of her spear
She brings the fish to go with the bread
She knows the feast is drawing near
She invites the low and the renowned
She speaks in riddles to confound
She offers drinks that will astound
She prefers wine to beer
She whispers secrets profound
She will let the good be crowned
She lets the evil be drowned
She makes it very clear
She isn’t one to mess around
She runs the crooked ships aground
She repays traitors pound for pound
She knows who is sincere
And it’s only them
Only them
That will ever truly see her
